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DHistory
History · Mabank

Mabank’s post office opened in 1900

More historic than 10% of U.S. towns · #465 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of Mabank was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1920 on and the census since 1930.

1900first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Mabank began

When was Mabank founded?

1900

The Mabank post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 963 in 19302020 census: 4,050126 years

How historic is Mabank?

D

More historic than 10% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Mabank’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mabank is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #465 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mabank’s overall grade.
Founding era1900, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19402.6% of homes (±3.2) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 10%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 28%

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 Mabank’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 points). 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 Mabank’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 Mabank are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19205 editions of the USGS map, 1920 to 1981. Watch Mabank change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mabank’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mabank’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
On the map

Mabank on the map, 1920 to 1981

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

Mabank on the 1920 USGS mapMabank on the 1957 USGS mapMabank on the 1960 USGS mapMabank on the 1972 USGS mapMabank on the 1981 USGS map1920Kemp 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 Mabank.

The story

How Mabank came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mabank.

Read it all →

Prior to the existence of Mabank in early 1900, the community of Lawndale was formed in the late 1880s. The community was noted for its agriculture in many areas, including cotton. With the Texas Trunk Railroad missing the community by a mile, though, ranchers Mason and Eubank decided to capitalize on the Texas Trunk and set aside one square mile of land and named it "Mabank".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mabank, 1900 to 1920

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Mabank post office opens
  3. 1913Born hereLindley Beckworth is born here
  4. 1920On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mabank, decade by decade

Today5 recent
FPC Mabank Outside2022FPC Mabank OutsideMabankEF2tornado20192019MabankEF2tornado2019Mabank12019Mabank1Mabank High School2009Mabank High SchoolTXMap-doton-Mabank2004TXMap-doton-Mabank
Every building

Mabank, building by building, 1921

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.

Mabank fire insurance map, 1921, sheet 11921Sheet 1 of 6
BrickWoodStone

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

People over time

Mabank, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500194019601980200020204,050

Grew from 963 people in 1930 to 4,050 in 2020, 4 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Gun Barrel CityIts storyD−

Questions about Mabank’s history

What year was Mabank founded?

The Mabank post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Mabank rank for history?

Mabank is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #465 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.

How old are the homes in Mabank?

3% of Mabank’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2002.

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 (5), 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 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.