Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lelia Lake

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Lelia Lake

Lelia Lake’s post office opened in 1906, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1962 on.

1906first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lelia Lake began

When was Lelia Lake founded?

1906

The Lelia Lake post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 51120 years
Founding year: the first Lelia Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lelia Lake’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lelia Lake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lelia Lake’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Lelia Lake, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lelia Lake yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lelia Lake is an unincorporated community in central Donley County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lelia Lake had a population of 51. It lies along U.S. Route 287, southeast of the city of Clarendon, the county seat of Donley County. Although Lelia Lake is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 79240. Founded along the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway in the late 1880s, the community was named for the founder's sister. When a post office was opened in the community in late 1906, the potential of confusion with the community of Lela in Wheeler County to the northeast led the post office to attach "Lake" to the community's name. A school was established in.…

Its first post office opened in 1906.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Lelia Lake on the map, 1962 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lelia Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Lelia Lake on the 1962 USGS mapLelia Lake on the 1982 USGS map1962Lelia Lake 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 Lelia Lake.

Questions about Lelia Lake’s history

What year was Lelia Lake founded?

The Lelia Lake post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.