More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #591 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Onalaska was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1990.
The Onalaska post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 728 in 19902020 census: 3,020121 years
How did Onalaska get its name?
The name derives, at several removes, from "Oonalaska," a rendering of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands used by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell in his 1799 poem The Pleasures of Hope.
More on the name
The spelling "Onalaska" was adopted for a lumber town in Arkansas and subsequently became a naming convention within the Carlisle lumber interests, which also gave the name to communities in Washington and Wisconsin. According to the Handbook of Texas, Carlisle named the Texas town after an older mill town he had operated at Onalaska, Arkansas.
How historic is Onalaska?
D−
More historic than 3% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Onalaska is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Onalaska’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 Onalaska’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. 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 Onalaska’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was settled during the Republic of Texas period, with local accounts placing the first settlement in 1840. It remained a sparsely populated farming district in western Polk County until the arrival of the lumber industry in the first decade of the 20th century.
William Carlisle, a lumberman based in Atchison, Kansas, sent L. O. Jackson to Polk County in 1903 to select a mill site; Jackson acquired several thousand acres of timberland in the area between Trinity, Groveton, Corrigan, and Livingston. Carlisle developed the townsite about 1905 and brought roughly thirty experienced workers with him from his Arkansas operation. Jackson served as manager of mill construction and operations and remained a leading figure in the town.
The Onalaska post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Onalaska rank for history?
Onalaska is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 of 642 in Texas. 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 Onalaska?
0.0% of Onalaska’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1993.
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, 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.
2020
2013
2010
2010
2010
2004
