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Palo pinto courthousePhoto: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Palo Pinto

Palo Pinto’s post office opened in 1860, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Palo Pinto County Jail and the Palo Pinto County Courthouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper.

1860first post office
2on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Palo Pinto’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Palo Pinto began

When was Palo Pinto founded?

1860

The Palo Pinto post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Golconda (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 276166 years
Founding year: the first Palo Pinto post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Palo Pinto’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Palo Pinto’s homes were built before 1942.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Palo Pinto’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewJowell Ranch House, National Ranching H…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Palo Pinto came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Palo Pinto.

Read it all →

When legislation calling for organization of Palo Pinto County was passed in 1856, a community was designated to be built within five miles of the center of the county to serve as the seat of government. The county was formally organized in May 1857, and on August 18 of the same year, the first session of the county court was held, during which the plans for the new county seat were discussed and enacted. The community, then called Golconda, was laid out soon thereafter, and received its post office in March 1858. Around this time, the town (and, soon after, post office) were renamed Palo Pinto.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Palo Pinto, 1858 to 1993

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Golconda post office opens
  3. 1860Post officeThe Golconda post office closes
  4. 1860Post officeThe Palo Pinto post office opens
  5. 1874Born hereJames Clifton Wilson is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1973Born hereChrista Wells is born here
  8. 1993Born hereHillary Jane is born here
By decade

Palo Pinto, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Jowell Ranch House, National Ranching Heritage Center (moved from Possum Kingdom LakeDate?Jowell Ranch House, National Ranching Heritage Center…
Today1 recent
Jonathan Hamilton Baker, Palo Pinto, Texas Historical Marker2012Jonathan Hamilton Baker, Palo Pinto, Texas Historical…
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Jowell Ranch House, National Ranching Heritage Center (moved from Possum Kingdom Lake
Retake this viewJowell Ranch House, National Ranching Heritage Center (moved from Possum Kingdom Lake

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Palo Pinto’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Palo Pinto

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Palo Pinto County Jail
Palo Pinto County Courthouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Moderne1
Palo Pinto County JailBuilding
Palo Pinto County CourthouseModerne

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Palo Pinto

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
James Clifton WilsonAmerican politician · b. 1874
H
Hillary JaneAmerican Christian musician · b. 1993
C
Christa WellsAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1973
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Palo Pinto’s post office has been open since 1860. Another post office, Golconda, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Golconda
1858–1860
Palo Pinto
1860–today
18501940today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Palo Pinto’s history

What year was Palo Pinto founded?

The Palo Pinto post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Palo Pinto?

Two places: the Palo Pinto County Jail (listed 1979) and the Palo Pinto County Courthouse (1997).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.