Most of Kirbyville was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Kirbyville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Kirbyville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kirbyville is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kirbyville’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 Kirbyville’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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 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 Kirbyville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was first established in 1895 when the Gulf, Beaumont, and Kansas City railroad reached the site. It was first named Kirby for John Henry Kirby, a lumber businessman who intended to use the site for building a facility to market his lumber. The post office was established the same year, but the name was changed to Kirbyville when a town already called Kirby was discovered. The town became incorporated in 1926.
The Kirbyville post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kirbyville rank for history?
Kirbyville is more historic than 25% 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 Kirbyville?
7% of Kirbyville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (5), 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) 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.
2025
2007
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