Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns · #58 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Greenville was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1890.
Greenville dates its founding to 1846 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #58 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Greenville’s 2.2 sits above most of its state (77% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 7 listings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Greenville’s post office has been open since 1847. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Greenville.
Greenville was founded in 1846. The city was named after Thomas J. Green, a significant contributor to the establishment of the Texas Republic. He later became a member of the Congress of the Texas Republic.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCotton Gin, Greenville, TexasAlternate Title: No.20109
In the archiveGreenville, Tex., county seat of Hunt County 1886
In the archiveOld map-Greenville-1891
Born hereJohn Boles is born here
In the archiveCotton scene, public square
Born hereKay Granger is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBart Millard is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2018Greenville Building and Loan Association Historical M…
2016KGVL
2016Connection Bus
2015Greenville August 2015 46 (Trackmobile)
2015Greenville August 2015 45 (Trackmobile)
2015Greenville August 2015 44 (Trackmobile)
2014The Dream Lodge Motel, which once had a thriving clie…
2014The Dream Lodge Motel, which once had a thriving clie…
2012ISS030-E-228254 - View of Texas
2009Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates listens to a bri…
2004TXMap-doton-Greenville
2000Cushman TrucksterThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenville.
1963Greenville NE sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greenville.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Greenville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 4,330 people in 1890 to 28,164 in 2020, 6 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1846, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Greenville’s post office opened in 1847, and the census of 1890 counted 4,330 people here.
Greenville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #58 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.
7 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Post Office Building (listed 1974, the first).
6% of Greenville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1979.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
c. 1865
1886