Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #91 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Huntsville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
Huntsville dates its founding to 1836 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Huntsville is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #91 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold 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 Huntsville’s 2.1 sits above most of its state (76% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% 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.
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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Huntsville.
The city got its beginning circa 1836, when Pleasant and Ephraim Gray opened a trading post on the site. Ephraim Gray became first postmaster in 1837, naming it after his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama.
The hill at 7th Street and University Avenue, known as Cotton Gin Hill, was the site of several gins and became the ginning and shipping center.
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.
BuiltSam Houston House is builtBorn hereThomas Henry Ball is born here
In the archiveDowntown Hunstville TX 1870sBorn hereRobert Abercrombie Lovett is born here
In the archiveSamuel Walker Houston SchoolBorn hereSteve Forrest is born here
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey, Harry L. Starnes, Photographer June 2, 1936 FRONT AND…
In the archiveHuntsville (vicinity), Texas. Advertisement
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveWynneUnitAerialphoto5 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1916Samuel Walker Houston School1936Historic American Buildings Survey, Harry L. Starnes,…1943Huntsville (vicinity), Texas. Advertisement
1943Huntsville (vicinity), Texas. Beauty shop advertiseme…
1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Huntsville (vici…
1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Huntsville (vici…
1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Huntsville (vici…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Huntsville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Huntsville.
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 Huntsville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 892 people in 1850 to 45,941 in 2020, more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Huntsville’s Wikipedia page.
Huntsville’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Home, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1836, according to Wikidata. Huntsville’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1850 counted 892 people here.
Huntsville is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #91 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Sam Houston House (a National Historic Landmark since 1974). 10 historic buildings in all.
2% of Huntsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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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