Pharr’s post office opened in 1911, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 20% of U.S. towns · #330 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Pharr was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Its Register listings are the Valley Fruit Company and the Louisiana-Rio Grande Canal Company Irrigation System. Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Pharr post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1916.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pharr’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pharr is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #330 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pharr’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 Pharr’s 0.5 sits above most of its state (71% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1916 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Pharr’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Beamsley ColoniaBeto's Acres ColoniaBorder ColoniaColonia EvansColonia Evans Number 2Diaz ColoniaEl Sol ColoniaFays CornerGomez ColoniaH and B ColoniaHidalgo Park Estates ColoniaHME ColoniaL R Bell ColoniaLa Quinta ColoniaLas Brisas del Sur ColoniaLas Fuentes ColoniaLas Haciendas ColoniaLas MilpasLos Ranchitos Number 1-3 ColoniaMcDaniel ColoniaMoore Road ColoniaPalm Heights ColoniaPalo Verde ColoniaRidge Road Colonia
Gone or out of use
Shepherd Gas and Oil Fieldoilfield
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pharr
GuadalupePharr Memorial
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Pharr’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pharr’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The community was named after sugar planter Henry Newton Pharr (1872-1966). For a number of years, centering around early 1900, Henry N. Pharr was director of the State National Bank of New Iberia, Louisiana, and was a former president of the Louisiana–Rio Grande Sugar Company and the Louisiana–Rio Grande Canal Company, which at one time owned 8,000 acres (32.4 km2) and which, in 1910, built the town of Pharr on this land. Pharr was the Republican nominee for Louisiana governor in 1908, as his father John Newton Pharr had been in 1896.
Pharr has grown rapidly since the late 20th century, from a population of 32,921 in 1990 to an estimated 77,320 in 2016 and 79,112 in 2019.
The Pharr post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1916.
How does Pharr rank for history?
Pharr is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #330 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.
What is on the National Register in Pharr?
Two places: the Valley Fruit Company (listed 2011) and the Louisiana-Rio Grande Canal Company Irrigation System (1995).
How old are the homes in Pharr?
0.5% of Pharr’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2001.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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