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DHistory
History · Parker

Parker’s post office opened in 1888

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #425 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of Parker was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Below: maps from 1929 on and the census since 1970.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Parker began

When was Parker founded?

1888

The Parker post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 367 in 19702020 census: 5,462138 years

How historic is Parker?

D

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Parker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Parker’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Parker is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #425 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Parker’s overall grade.
Founding era1888, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±1.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%D−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 13%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 34%

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 Parker’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 (±1.3 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 Parker’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 Parker are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Parker’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Parker’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

How Parker came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Parker.

Read it all →

The first settlers arrived in the area that is now Parker in the early 1840s. The town was named after William C. Parker, the son of the area's first known settler, John C. Parker. It was incorporated as a city on March 22, 1969.

Corinth Presbyterian Church was founded in Parker in 1846, with the current sanctuary built in 1923, and is thought to be the oldest continuing congregation in Collin County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Parker in 1895

Passages that mention Parker, cut from the printed page as they were published.

In the summer of 1834, in company with James and Silas Parker, he visited Limestone county in Robertson's colony, and located a claim where the present town of Groesbeck is situated. Silas Parker located his claim north of Anglin's, and James Parker went still further north. They then returned to G…
History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties1895 · page 115Read the page →
Read the text

In the summer of 1834, in company with James and Silas Parker, he visited Limestone county in Robertson's colony, and located a claim where the present town of Groesbeck is situated. Silas Parker located his claim north of Anglin's, and James Parker went still further north. They then returned to Grimes Prairie, each buying a load of corn prepara-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
And as the facts detailed corresponded with the massacre at Parker's Fort, I was im pressed with the belief that she was Cynthia Ann Parker. Returning to my post, I sent lier and child to the ladies at Cooper, where she could receive the attention her situation demanded, and at the same time dispji…
History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties1895 · page 236Read the page →
Read the text

And as the facts detailed corresponded with the massacre at Parker's Fort, I was im pressed with the belief that she was Cynthia Ann Parker. Returning to my post, I sent lier and child to the ladies at Cooper, where she could receive the attention her situation demanded, and at the same time dispjitcheil a messenger to Colonel Parker, her uncle,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Parker, 1888 to 1929

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Parker post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Parker post office closes
  5. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Parker, decade by decade

Today10 recent
Silhouetted bull at Southfork Ranch2014Silhouetted bull at Southfork RanchSpotted horse at Southfork Ranch2014Spotted horse at Southfork RanchSpotted horse at Southfork Ranch2014Spotted horse at Southfork RanchSpotted horse at Southfork Ranch2014Spotted horse at Southfork RanchSpotted horse at Southfork Ranch2014Spotted horse at Southfork RanchMain house at Southfork Ranch2014Main house at Southfork RanchCountry lane at Southfork Ranch2014Country lane at Southfork RanchMain house at Southfork Ranch2014Main house at Southfork RanchMain house at Southfork Ranch2014Main house at Southfork RanchParker, Texas2013Parker, Texas
On the map

Parker on the map, 1929 to 1968

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Parker. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Parker on the 1929 USGS mapParker on the 1959 USGS mapParker on the 1968 USGS map1929McKinney sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Parker.

People over time

Parker, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0001980200020205,462

Grew from 367 people in 1970 to 5,462 in 2020, more than tenfold.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Parker’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Parker had its own post office from 1888 to 1901.

Parker
1888–1901
18801950today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Plano3 historic placesCWylieIts storyC−Allen1 historic placeCLucasIts storyC−MurphyIts storyD

Questions about Parker’s history

What year was Parker founded?

The Parker post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Parker rank for history?

Parker is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #425 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 Parker?

0.0% of Parker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2004.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.