More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #425 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Fate was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2013. Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Fate post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fate’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fate is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #425 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fate’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 Fate’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 range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. 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 Fate’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The name of the town is thought to have come from one of two of the towns influential residents, either William Lafayette Brown or GW Lafayette Peyton, both of whom were nicknamed "Fate" and lived in the area during the 1860s. At that time, land ownership, a post office, and the railroad played a vital role in the naming of the City of Fate. The town was settled shortly after the Civil War and was originally located 1.5 miles to the north of Downtown Fate's current location today. The town of Barnes, named after a Dr. Wiley Turner Barnes, was developed where Fate's current Downtown is located. A post office was established in Fate on July 13, 1880, with Harvey Peyton White as its postmaster.
The Fate post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fate rank for history?
Fate is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #425 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 Fate?
0.0% of Fate’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2013.
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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2022
2015
2004