Lancaster’s post office opened in 1860, and 4 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #196 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Lancaster was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1 buildings. Below: maps from 1921 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Lancaster post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lancaster’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lancaster is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #196 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lancaster’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 Lancaster’s 1.0 sits above most of its state (72% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 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 Lancaster’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1841, an act of the Republic of Texas Congress authorized President Mirabeau Lamar to enter into a contract with William S. Peters and 19 associates to promote settlement in North Texas, and paid the company with free land in exchange for recruiting new settlers. Around 600 families settled in what became known as Peters Colony from 1841 through 1844. The Peters' group advertised heavily in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee, so many of the earliest settlers were from those states. The first group to settle in the Lancaster area was Roderick Rawlins and his family from Greene County, Illinois. They left for Texas in September 1844. Rawlins and two of his sons-in-law came ahead to select the general area where they would settle. They chose an uninhabited area south of Dallas along the north bank of Ten Mile Creek as the site of their new settlement. In December 1844, the thre…
Passages that mention Lancaster, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas ..1892 · page 538Read the page →
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settled in Lancaster, this county, where they resided until December, 1859, when Mr. Taylor purchased a farm one mile from the village of Lancaster, consisting of 350 acres on which he settled and where he resided until his death, which occurred November 1, 1862, at Forest, Mississippi. He was a farmer all his life, and a fairly successful one. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Memorial and biographical history of Dallas county, Texas ... Containing a history of this important section of the great state of Texas, from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time ... and biographical mention of many of its pioneers, a1892Read the page →
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asking that an election be held to determine whether or not the town situated upon the land hereinafter described, to wit, the town of Lancaster, Dallas county, Texas, should lie incorporated under the general laws of the State of Texas with the following limits, to wit: P>eo-innin£ at a point 1,244 J yards south 45° east from the center of the public
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Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas ..1892 · page 528Read the page →
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ern part of the county, near where Hv»tchings now stands, and also 320 acres seven miles northwest of the present village of Lancaster. He settled on the former tract, and resided there from January, 1848, until some time in 1850, wheTi, his father-in-law having died, he moved to a part of his farm, about three miles west of Lancaster, where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Memorial and biographical history of Dallas county, Texas ... Containing a history of this important section of the great state of Texas, from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time ... and biographical mention of many of its pioneers, a1892Read the page →
Read the text
ern part of the county, near where Ilutching.s now stands, and also 320 acres scveti miles northwest of the present village of Lancaster. lie settled on the former tract, and resided there from January, 1S4S, until some time in 1850, when, his father-in-law having died, he moved to a part of his farm, about three miles west of Lancaster, where
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Lancaster, 1860 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lancaster. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1959Lancaster sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lancaster.
Every building
Lancaster, building by building, 1921–1928
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.
The Lancaster post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lancaster rank for history?
Lancaster is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #196 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.
What is on the National Register in Lancaster?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Randlett House (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the W.A. Strain Farm-Strain House, with 1 contributing buildings.
How old are the homes in Lancaster?
2% of Lancaster’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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