Most of Linden was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Its Register listings are the Cass County Courthouse and the Macedonia School Vocational Building.
Founding year: the first Linden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Linden’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Linden is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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 Linden’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 Linden’s 10.4 sits above most of its state (87% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±2.9 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 Linden’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Linden yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Linden is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Texas, United States. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 1,825. Linden is named after the city of Linden in Perry County, Tennessee (of which that Linden is the current seat).
Its first post office opened in 1852. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,988 to 1,825 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Linden, 1852 to 1925
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Linden’s history
What year was Linden founded?
The Linden post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Linden rank for history?
Linden is more historic than 44% 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.
What is on the National Register in Linden?
Two places: the Cass County Courthouse (listed 1979) and the Macedonia School Vocational Building (2026).
How old are the homes in Linden?
5% of Linden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2019