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History · Joaquin

Joaquin’s post office opened in 1886

Most of Joaquin was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 1 old photo or paper.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Joaquin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Joaquin began

When was Joaquin founded?

1886

The Joaquin post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 734140 years
Founding year: the first Joaquin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Joaquin’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Joaquin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Joaquin’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSabine River Bridge, Spanning Sabine Ri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Joaquin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Joaquin.

Read it all →

The site was founded in 1885 for a station for the Houston, East and West Texas Railway. The land was donated by Benjamin Franklin Morris, and the site was named for his grandson Joaquin Lopez . The post office was opened in the following year. The site operated as a shipping point for cotton and lumber, with a lumber mill functioning there. The town was incorporated in 1940, with a population increase with the development of the Toledo Bend Reservoir years later.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Joaquin, 1886 to 1941

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Joaquin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1928Born hereLou Smith is born here
  5. 1935Born hereOrren R. Whiddon is born here
  6. 1941Born hereWinston Hill is born here
By decade

Joaquin, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Sabine River Bridge, Spanning Sabine River at U.S. Route 84Date?Sabine River Bridge, Spanning Sabine River at U.S. Ro…
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Sabine River Bridge, Spanning Sabine River at U.S. Route 84
Retake this viewSabine River Bridge, Spanning Sabine River at U.S. Route 84

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Joaquin’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

3 famous people were born in Joaquin

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
W
Winston HillPlayer of American football · b. 1941
L
Lou SmithAmerican singer · b. 1928
Orren R. WhiddonU.S. Army officer · b. 1935

Questions about Joaquin’s history

What year was Joaquin founded?

The Joaquin post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.