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B+History
History · Memphis

Memphis dates to 1889, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Hall County Courthouse. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1910 on.

1889founded
1on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
8famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Memphis’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Memphis began

When was Memphis founded?

1889

Memphis dates its founding to 1889 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1890.

2020 census: 2,048137 years

How historic is Memphis?

B+

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1890.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Memphis’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Memphis is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Memphis’ overall grade.
Founding era1889, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194030.4% of homes (±7.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register1 listing, 4.6 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 72%
NewerOlder

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 Memphis’ 4.6 sits above most of its state (81% 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 B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 points). Two sources give 1889.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Memphis’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Famous sons and daughtersJack English Hightower, Larry Combest and 6 more were born here.Old housesHalf of Memphis’ homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Famous people

8 famous people were born in Memphis

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

See all →
Jack English HightowerAmerican politician and lawyer · b. 1926
Larry CombestAmerican politician · b. 1945
S
Scott M. GrundyAmerican cardiologist · b. 1933
F
Frank SachseAmerican basketball and football player · b. 1917
G
George Edward StanleyAmerican writer of children's fiction and acade… · b. 1942
B
Blues Boy WillieAfrican American electric blues singer and harm… · b. 1946
The story

How Memphis came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Memphis.

Read it all →

Memphis, Texas, the county seat of Hall County, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 287, State Highway 256, and Farm to Market Road 1547, in the northeastern part of the county. It started in 1889, when J. C. Montgomery purchased land for a townsite north of Salisbury on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. This land had been previously owned by W. H. Robertson, who had a dugout near Parker Creek. Montgomery and Robertson, with Rev. J. W. Brice and T. J. Woods, Jr., of Dallas, formed a townsite company and presented a plat early in January 1890. P. M. Kelly opened a law office. A rooming house (later the Memphis Hotel), a general store, a drugstore, and several residences were soon erected. For a time, the new town was without a name. Several suggestions were submitted to federal postal authorities, but with negative results. Finally, as the story goes, Reverend Brice, while in Austin…

Chapters2013 Civil rights case

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Memphis, 1889 to 1945

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889
    FoundingMemphis is established
  3. 1890Post officeThe Memphis post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910In the archivePresbyterian church
  6. 1917Born hereFrank Sachse is born here
  7. 1926Born hereJack English Hightower is born here
  8. 1933Born hereScott M. Grundy is born here
  9. 1937In the archiveHotel
  10. 1945Born hereLarry Combest is born here
By decade

Memphis, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s6 items
Presbyterian church1910Presbyterian churchHotel1937HotelWoman on relief. Memphis, Texas1937Woman on relief. Memphis, TexasThe town square of Memphis, Texas1937The town square of Memphis, TexasThe town square of Memphis, Texas1937The town square of Memphis, TexasFlood refugee family near Memphis, Texas1937Flood refugee family near Memphis, Texas
1940s–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
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.

Presbyterian church
Retake this viewPresbyterian church, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Memphis

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Hall County Courthouse
Hall County Courthouse
Buildings
Hall County CourthouseBuilding

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

Help out

Finish Memphis’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPresbyterian church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Memphis’ history

What year was Memphis founded?

In 1889, according to Wikidata. Memphis’ post office opened in 1890.

How does Memphis rank for history?

Memphis is more historic than 72% 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 Memphis?

One place: the Hall County Courthouse (listed 2008).

How old are the homes in Memphis?

30% of Memphis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1962.

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 the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.