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C+History
History · Merkel

Merkel’s post office opened in 1883, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 43% of U.S. towns. What drives it

1883first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Merkel began

When was Merkel founded?

1883

The Merkel post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 2,471143 years

How historic is Merkel?

C+

More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Merkel’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Merkel is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Merkel’s overall grade.
Founding era1883, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194020.7% of homes (±5.4) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+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 43%
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 Merkel’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 C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 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 Merkel’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 Merkel are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Merkel’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Merkel’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Merkel’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
The story

How Merkel came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Merkel.

Read it all →

Around 1870, when the Texas and Pacific Railway was built, the city was founded as Windmill Town. In 1881, it was renamed as Merkel in honor of the first settler in this area, S. M. Merkel, from Germany. In 1882, the first mercantile store and in 1883, the first post office opened.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Merkel, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Merkel, Texas, Texas Independence Celebration March 30, 20112011Merkel, Texas, Texas Independence Celebration March 3…Merkel, Texas City Park2011Merkel, Texas City ParkMerkel, Texas April, 20112011Merkel, Texas April, 2011Merkel, TX, Serve Texas Girl Coffee, 20112011Merkel, TX, Serve Texas Girl Coffee, 2011Merkel, TX, Doug 'Lieutenant E.F. Beale' Baum and the Texas Camel Corps Go to School, 20112011Merkel, TX, Doug 'Lieutenant E.F. Beale' Baum and the…TXMap-doton-Merkel2004TXMap-doton-Merkel

Questions about Merkel’s history

What year was Merkel founded?

The Merkel post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Merkel rank for history?

Merkel is more historic than 43% 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.

How old are the homes in Merkel?

21% of Merkel’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1961.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 (6), 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.