Marble Falls’ post office opened in 1884, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #251 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Marble Falls was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Its Register listing is the Roper Hotel. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Marble Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1887.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Marble Falls’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marble Falls is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #251 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 Marble Falls’ 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 Marble Falls’ 1.3 sits above most of its state (73% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1887 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Marble Falls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marble Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Every building
Marble Falls, building by building, 1894–1910
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Marble Falls was founded in 1887 by Adam Rankin "Stovepipe" Johnson, a former Indian fighter and Confederate general. Johnson had visited the natural marble falls during his pre-war days as a Burnet County surveyor, and wanted to build an industrial city powered by the Colorado River. Johnson facilitated the construction of a railroad to nearby Granite Mountain in 1884, and helped plat the Marble Falls townsite. The sale of lots began in 1887, and Johnson built a home, a college, and a factory near the falls. The town grew to a population of 1,800 within ten years.
In 1917, Marble Falls elected Ophelia Crosby "Birdie" Harwood as the first woman mayor in Texas, three years before women were allowed to vote.
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.
The Marble Falls post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1887.
How does Marble Falls rank for history?
Marble Falls is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #251 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 Marble Falls?
One place: the Roper Hotel (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Marble Falls?
0.6% of Marble Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
1908
2007
