Harlingen’s post office opened in 1904, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #308 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Harlingen was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Its Register listing is the Baxter Building. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1919 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Harlingen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Harlingen’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harlingen is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #308 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harlingen’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 Harlingen’s 0.1 sits above most of its state (69% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±0.9 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 Harlingen’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Harlingen's strategic location at the intersection of U.S. Route 77 and U.S. Route 83, codesignated as Interstate 69 East and Interstate 2, respectively, in northwestern Cameron County, fostered its development as a distribution, shipping, and industrial center. In 1904, Lon C. Hill (a man of Choctaw ancestry) envisioned the Rio Grande as a commercial waterway. He named the town he founded on the north bank after the Frisian city of Harlingen, in the Netherlands. The town's post office was established that year. The first school opened with 15 pupils in 1905 near the Hill home, the first residence built in Harlingen. Harlingen incorporated on April 15, 1910, when the population totaled 1,126. In 1920, the census listed 1,748. The local economy at first was almost entirely agricultural, with the chief crops vegetables and cotton.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harlingen. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1929Harlingen 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 Harlingen.
Every building
Harlingen, building by building, 1919–1925
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.
The Harlingen post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Harlingen rank for history?
Harlingen is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #308 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 Harlingen?
One place: the Baxter Building (listed 2019).
How old are the homes in Harlingen?
3% of Harlingen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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1939
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1939
