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History · Paint Rock

Paint Rock’s post office opened in 1879, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Concho County Courthouse.

1879first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Paint Rock began

When was Paint Rock founded?

1879

The Paint Rock post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 237147 years
Founding year: the first Paint Rock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Paint Rock’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 Paint Rock are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Paint Rock’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Paint Rock’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paint Rock’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 so far

Paint Rock, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Paint Rock yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Paint Rock is a town in and the county seat of Concho County, Texas, United States. The population was 237 at the 2020 census. The town's name comes from Native American pictographs painted on cliffs overlooking the nearby Concho River. These pictographs cover nearly half a mile upstream from the town of Paint Rock. Some of the pictures painted on the rocks include animals, human figures, and handprints. A few of the pictographs there were made by the Comanche, who likely used the bluff as a camp site; they may have also fought the Texas Rangers there. They are located on a private ranch, property of the Campbell family who protect them and organizes tours for visitors.

Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 273 to 237 (-13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Paint Rock, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Stories in Stone2013Stories in StoneThe famous Indian pictographs outside of Paint Rock, Texas2009The famous Indian pictographs outside of Paint Rock, …The famous Indian pictographs outside of Paint Rock, Texas2009The famous Indian pictographs outside of Paint Rock, …Kay Campbell demonstrates the art of making the paint in which the Indians used to paint rocks located on her ranch2009Kay Campbell demonstrates the art of making the paint…Concho County Courthouse2008Concho County CourthouseConcho Watershed2006Concho Watershed
On the National Register

1 historic place in Paint Rock

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1977
Concho County Courthouse
Concho County Courthouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Second Empire1
Concho County CourthouseSecond Empire

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Paint Rock’s history

What year was Paint Rock founded?

The Paint Rock post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Paint Rock?

One place: the Concho County Courthouse (listed 1977).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.