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History · Follett

Follett’s post office opened in 1918, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1930.

1918first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Follett began, and where its name came from

When was Follett founded?

1918

The Follett post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 658 in 19302020 census: 373108 years

How did Follett get its name?

Follett was named for Horace Follett, a locating engineer for the line.

Founding year: the first Follett post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

What stands out about Follett’s 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 Follett are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Follett’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Follett, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Follett yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Follett is a city in Lipscomb County, Texas, United States, which was established in 1917 by Santa Fe railroad official Thomas C. Spearman as a townsite on the North Texas and Santa Fe Railway. It was named for Horace Follett, a locating engineer for the line. The population was 373 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1918. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 459 to 373 (-19%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Follett on the map, 1972 to 1986

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

Follett on the 1972 USGS mapFollett on the 1986 USGS map1972Follett 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 Follett.

People over time

Follett, census by census

010020030040050060070019401960198020002020Peak: 658

Between 373 and 658 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Follett

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

See all →
Michael DunnAmerican actor and singer · b. 1934
Ross RizleyAmerican politician · b. 1892
Don BinghamAmerican gridiron football player · b. 1929
Donald J. GottUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1923
Hugh W. HardyUnited States Marine Corps Reserve general; 3D … · b. 1924
T
Timothy D. LeonardUnited States federal judge · b. 1940

Questions about Follett’s history

What year was Follett founded?

The Follett post office opened in 1918, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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.