Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of McDade was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1863 on.
The McDade post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McDade is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 McDade’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how McDade’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of McDade.
The community is named for James W. McDade, a major stockholder in the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in 1869.
McDade was, for several years, the childhood home of 1950s television and recording star Gale Storm, as her mother owned a millinery shop in McDade.
McDade Pottery, which operated from 1863 to 1942, is the most successful business ever to exist in the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on McDade’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in McDade itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The McDade post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
McDade is more historic than 25% 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.
6% of McDade’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1980.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), Wikipedia, 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.
2024
2015
2015