Most of Hughes Springs was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1964. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Hughes Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hughes Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hughes Springs is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hughes Springs’ 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 Hughes Springs’ 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 still be C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). 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 Hughes Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 2,196 in 1980; 1,575 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hughes Springs’ Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Hughes Springs, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hughes Springs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hughes Springs city in Cass and Morris counties in the U.S. state of Texas. At the 2020 census, its population was 1,575. The town was heavily damaged by an EF2 tornado on November 4, 2022.
Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,760 to 1,575 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Hughes Springs, 1878 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hughes Springs.
1962Lone Star 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 Hughes Springs.
Famous people
2 famous people were born in Hughes Springs
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Hughes Springs post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hughes Springs rank for history?
Hughes Springs is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. 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 Hughes Springs?
8% of Hughes Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (12), 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) 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.
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