Gainesville’s post office opened in 1851, and 5 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #121 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Gainesville was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Gainesville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Gainesville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gainesville is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #121 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gainesville’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 Gainesville’s 4.5 sits above most of its state (81% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 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 Gainesville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Founded in 1850, the city of Gainesville was established on a 40-acre (16 ha) tract of land donated by Mary E. Clark. City residents called their new community "Liberty", which proved short-lived, as Liberty, Texas, already existed. One of the original settlers of Cooke County, Colonel William Fitzhugh, suggested that the town be named after General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Gaines, a United States general under whom Fitzhugh had served, had been sympathetic to the Texas Revolution.
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 Gainesville post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Gainesville rank for history?
Gainesville is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #121 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.
What is on the National Register in Gainesville?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Cloud-Stark House (listed 1982, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Gainesville?
7% of Gainesville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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), 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.
1864
1886
