Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns · #359 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Lake Jackson was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Its Register listing is the Alden B. Dow Office and Lake Jackson City Hall. Its Register listing is the Alden B. Dow Office and Lake Jackson City Hall. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1950.
The Lake Jackson post office opened in 1943, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1944.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Jackson is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #359 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 Lake Jackson’s 0.4 sits above most of its state (70% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lake Jackson’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lake Jackson.
The city was built in the early 1940s as a planned community, designed by Alden B. Dow of Midland, Michigan for workers in support of a new plant of the Dow Chemical Company, which his father owned. The City of Lake Jackson was incorporated March 14, 1944, and voted for home rule ten years later in 1954.
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.
20252025-09-13 14 47 27 Reassurance sign along northbound…
20252025-09-13 14 46 43 View north along Texas State Rout…
2016Lake Jackson Intermediate School
2016Community Event PDH Celebration
2016Alden B Dow Office
2013Gary North, Peggy Paul and Ronnie Paul
2008Ron Paul
2008Ron Paul (2256692866) (1)
2006Nordopossum
2005Kürbisverkauf vor Lutherischen Kirche in
2004TXMap-doton-LakeJacksonEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake Jackson. 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 Lake Jackson.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 2,897 people in 1950 to 28,177 in 2020, 9 times over.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lake Jackson’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Lake Jackson’s post office has been open since 1943.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lake Jackson post office opened in 1943, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1944.
Lake Jackson is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #359 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.
One place: the Alden B. Dow Office and Lake Jackson City Hall (listed 2010).
0.4% of Lake Jackson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (11), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
