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BHistory
History · Liberty

Liberty’s post office opened in 1835, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #104 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of Liberty was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1860.

1835first post office
4on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
4famous people
From Liberty’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Liberty began

When was Liberty founded?

1835

The Liberty post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 584 in 18602020 census: 8,279191 years

How historic is Liberty?

B

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Liberty post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Liberty’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Liberty is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #104 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Liberty’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 58%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 84%

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 Liberty’s 4.6 sits above most of its state (81% 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 A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 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 Liberty’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 Liberty’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Liberty’s post office has been open since 1835.

Hamlets and corners on the map
AtascositoNegros Liberty SettlementRock IslandSouth Liberty
Gone or out of use
South Liberty Oil FieldoilfieldSouth Liberty Oil Fieldoilfield
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Liberty
BranchFairlawnNeylandOld Hardin

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Liberty, 1835 to 1979

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1835Post officeThe Liberty post office opens
  3. 1899Born hereTink Riviere is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1909Born hereBill Dodd is born here
  6. 1935Born hereGlenn Brady is born here
  7. 1938Born hereHarley McAdams is born here
  8. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1979In the archiveMilentz Drive-in Theater, N. Main Street
The story so far

Liberty, in brief

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

Liberty is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Liberty County. The population was 8,279 at the 2020 census. It serves as the county seat of Liberty County. Liberty is the third oldest city in the state—established in 1831 on the banks of the Trinity River. The city also has a twin of the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its area code is 936 and its ZIP code is 77575.

Its first post office opened in 1835. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 8,397 in 2010, 8,279 in 2020.

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

By decade

Liberty, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Liberty on the map, 1955 to 1984

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

Liberty on the 1955 USGS mapLiberty on the 1984 USGS map1955Liberty sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Liberty.

Every building

Liberty, building by building, 1927

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 sheet.

Liberty fire insurance map, 1927, sheet 21927Sheet 2 of 4

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Milentz Drive-in Theater, N. Main Street
Retake this viewMilentz Drive-in Theater, N. Main Street, 1979

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Liberty’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

4 historic places in Liberty

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Cleveland-Partlow House
BuildingsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Parker Through Truss Bridge1
Modern Movement1
Art Deco1
Mid-Nineteenth Century1
Octagon Mode1
All 4 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Liberty, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,000190019502000Peak: 8,397

Between 458 and 8,397 people in every census since 1860.

16 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Liberty’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Liberty

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Liberty’s history

What year was Liberty founded?

The Liberty post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Liberty rank for history?

Liberty is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #104 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 Liberty?

4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Cleveland-Partlow House (listed 1984, the first), and 1 structure.

How old are the homes in Liberty?

1% of Liberty’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1975.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.