Most of Niederwald was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Niederwald post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
History grade
What drives Niederwald’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Niederwald is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Niederwald’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 Niederwald’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 D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 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 Niederwald’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Niederwald yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Niederwald is a city in Caldwell and Hays counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 668 at the 2020 census. Niederwald means "low forest", or "low wood", in German. It was named Niederwald by the German founders of the town. This region of Central Texas was settled in the 1800s primarily by Germans and European emigrants and is referred to as the Texas-German belt by locals.
Its first post office opened in 1902. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 565 to 668 (+18%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Niederwald, 1902 to 1968
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Niederwald had its own post office from 1902 to 1904.
Niederwald
1902–1904
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Jim Roach Field Airportairport
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Niederwald’s history
What year was Niederwald founded?
The Niederwald post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Niederwald rank for history?
Niederwald is more historic than 12% 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 Niederwald?
4% of Niederwald’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 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.
