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C−History
History · Fairchilds

Fairchilds’ post office opened in 1912, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 2000.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Djmaschek · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Fairchilds began

When was Fairchilds founded?

1912

The Fairchilds post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 678 in 20002020 census: 864114 years

How historic is Fairchilds?

C−

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Fairchilds post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Fairchilds’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairchilds is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fairchilds’ overall grade.
Founding era1912, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194012.0% of homes (±9.1) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 21%
NewerOlder

Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fairchilds’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Fairchilds’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fairchilds are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fairchilds’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fairchilds’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Fairchilds came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fairchilds.

Read it all →

The village is named after Philo Fairchilds, who settled there circa 1840. He built a house approximately one mile south of the present-day community. Theo Aderholz, August Bede and Charles Blohm founded the original settlement in 1890. A group of Mennonites from the north established a colony in 1896 by buying property on Big Creek. Approximately fifty families were soon working the land. They built roads, businesses, and schools, including separate ones for white and black children. After a malaria epidemic swept the area, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 wrecked most of the town. Most of the Mennonites abandoned the site; only a few stayed. A post office served the village from 1912 to 1918, when it closed. In 1912, Louis Kneitz sold two acres to the city to serve as a dance hall; it was called Fairchild Hall and in 1999 the city tore it down, only leaving a cupola near the site. In…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fairchilds, 1912 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Fairchilds post office opens
  3. 1918Post officeThe Fairchilds post office closes
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Fairchilds, decade by decade

Today6 recent
FM 361 and 2977 at2013FM 361 and 2977 atFairchilds TX View SE2012Fairchilds TX View SEFairchilds TX Stavinoha Tire2012Fairchilds TX Stavinoha TireFairchilds TX Road Sign2012Fairchilds TX Road SignFairchilds TX Farmers Co-op Gin2012Fairchilds TX Farmers Co-op GinFairchilds TX Cotton Harvest2012Fairchilds TX Cotton Harvest
On the map

Fairchilds on the map, 1953 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairchilds. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Fairchilds on the 1953 USGS mapFairchilds on the 1980 USGS map1953Needville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fairchilds.

People over time

Fairchilds, census by census

020040060080020002020Peak: 864

Between 678 and 864 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairchilds’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Fairchilds

Nobody well known was born in Fairchilds itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
B
Bryce DeadmonAmerican sprinter · b. 1997
Dobie GrayAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1940
B
Brittney KarbowskiAmerican actress · b. 1986
Shane LechlerAmerican football player, punter · b. 1976
Rashawn SlaterAmerican football player · b. 1999
D
De'Von AchaneAmerican football player · b. 2001
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Fairchilds had its own post office from 1912 to 1918.

Fairchilds
1912–1918
19101970today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Fairchilds’ history

What year was Fairchilds founded?

The Fairchilds post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Fairchilds rank for history?

Fairchilds is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Fairchilds?

12% of Fairchilds’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1989.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.