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History · Mingus

Mingus’ post office opened in 1897

Most of Mingus was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972.

1897first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Mingus began

When was Mingus founded?

1897

The Mingus post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 223129 years
Founding year: the first Mingus post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mingus’ past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mingus’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mingus’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story

How Mingus came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mingus.

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In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Mingus, known as a "wet" town, had a thriving set of liquor stores and bars patronized by those in "dry" areas in Palo Pinto County and other area counties. This era in Mingus history was memorialized in a comedic country song by John Clay and the Lost Austin Band called "Road to Mingus." The lyrics tell of the deaths of three young men from Strawn, Texas, who travel to Mingus for beer, and, coming home in their '39 Ford, try to beat the Katy at a crossing and die when they are struck by the "reckless railroad train."

Area residents blamed aggressive law enforcement for the demise of the stores and bars. By the 2000s, the Cossacks Motorcycle Club patronized the remaining commercial establishments in the town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Mingus, decade by decade

Famous people

Famous people close to Mingus

Nobody well known was born in Mingus itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

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Questions about Mingus’ history

What year was Mingus founded?

The Mingus post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), 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.