The story
Read it all →How Josephine came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Josephine.
The City of Josephine was established in 1888 and was incorporated in 1955.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Josephine
Josephine’s post office opened in 1888
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #384 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Josephine was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2013. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1960.
1888first post office
0on the National Register
0.6%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Josephine began
When was Josephine founded?
1888
The Josephine post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 296 in 19602020 census: 2,119138 years
How historic is Josephine?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Josephine post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Josephine’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Josephine 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 Josephine’s overall grade.
Founding era1888, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.6% of homes (±0.9) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 40%
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 Josephine’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 Josephine’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Josephine’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Josephine’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.By decade
Josephine, decade by decade
2015
2004On the map
Josephine on the map, 1930 to 1963
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Josephine. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1930Farmersville sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Josephine.
People over time
Josephine, census by census
Grew from 296 people in 1960 to 2,119 in 2020, 7 times over.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Josephine’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Josephine’s history
What year was Josephine founded?
The Josephine post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Josephine rank for history?
Josephine 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 Josephine?
0.6% of Josephine’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2013.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.