Most of Muenster was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Muenster post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Muenster’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Muenster is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Muenster’s 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 Muenster’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 C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 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 Muenster’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1887, Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad constructed a line from Gainesville to Henrietta that passed through the site that would become Muenster. The town was subsequently founded in 1889 by German Catholic settlers Carl and Emil Flusche, who invited other German Catholics to join them. The town was originally to be called "Westphalia", but since the name Westphalia, Texas, was already taken, Muenster was selected instead in honor of Münster, the capital of Westphalia, but these cities are not sister-cities.
Many residents still spoke German in day-to-day life up until the First World War, after which the language was no longer taught in the schools and steadily declined in use.
The Muenster post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Muenster rank for history?
Muenster is more historic than 24% 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 Muenster?
6% of Muenster’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1974.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
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