More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #257 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Fairfield was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Fairfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Fairfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairfield is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #257 of 642 in Texas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fairfield’s overall grade.
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 Fairfield’s 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 still be C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 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 Fairfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1870 and 1880, then grew 7-fold.
13 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairfield’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Fairfield, building by building, 1885–1907
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Fairfield, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fairfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fairfield is a city and county seat of Freestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,850 at the 2020 census, down from 3,094 at the 2000 census. It was founded in 1851.
Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,951 to 2,850 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Fairfield, 1851 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Fairfield post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fairfield rank for history?
Fairfield is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #257 of 642 in Texas. 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 Fairfield?
9% of Fairfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1976.
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), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1972
2018
2017
2011
