Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Garwood

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Garwood

Garwood’s post office opened in 1901

Most of Garwood was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1959 on.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Garwood began

When was Garwood founded?

1901

The Garwood post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 510125 years
Founding year: the first Garwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Garwood’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garwood’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 Garwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Garwood.

Read it all →

The Red Bluff Irrigation System was constructed in 1896 by Marcus H. Townsend, W. T. Burford, and T. A. Hill to draw rice farmers to the region. By 1901, several local farmers were cultivating rice. Ed R. Frnka moved the first building on the townsite in 1901 as well; Townsend offered Frnka the property for his building. In memory of Townsend's friend and Houston lawyer Hiram Morgan Garwood, the community was renamed Garwood. The first chapel and post office in the village were founded in 1901. An extra structure was relocated to Garwood in 1902 and put to use as a hotel. Garwood participated in a land advertising scam in 1906. Agents would give photos of crops, such as orange groves, to their victims that had been taken somewhere else but were purportedly from Colorado County. Unseen, the land was purchased, and most purchasers departed upon seeing Garwood and the surrounding acreage. …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Garwood, 1901 to 1959

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901Post officeThe Garwood post office opens
  3. 1903Born hereHenry Frnka is born here
  4. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Garwood, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Farm to Market road in Texas2022Farm to Market road in TexasGarwood TX Silo2016Garwood TX SiloGarwood TX Post Office2016Garwood TX Post OfficeGarwood TX Elementary School2016Garwood TX Elementary SchoolGarwood TX Bucksnag Club2016Garwood TX Bucksnag Club
On the map

Garwood on the map, 1959 to 1981

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

Garwood on the 1959 USGS mapGarwood on the 1981 USGS map1959Garwood 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 Garwood.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

NadaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Garwood’s history

What year was Garwood founded?

The Garwood post office opened in 1901, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.