More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #384 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Heath was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1970.
The Heath post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Black Hill (1848), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 520 in 19702020 census: 9,769140 years
How historic is Heath?
C−
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Heath post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Heath’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Heath is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #384 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Heath’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 Heath’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Heath’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Heath, Texas, is a city in southwestern Rockwall County, Texas, located along Farm Road 740, approximately seven miles south of Rockwall. The community was named after John O. Heath, one of the area’s earliest settlers in 1846. Originally known as Black Hill due to its dark soil, the settlement established the first post office in what is now Rockwall County in 1849. After the post office moved to Rockwall in 1854, the community was renamed Willow Springs until 1886, when it became Heath and briefly regained a post office, which operated until 1906.
The Heath post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Heath rank for history?
Heath is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #384 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.
How old are the homes in Heath?
0.6% of Heath’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2003.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
