Pilot Point’s post office opened in 1855, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #112 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Pilot Point was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 33 buildings. Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Pilot Point post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pilot Point’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pilot Point is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #112 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pilot Point’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 Pilot Point’s 61.9 sits above most of its state (94% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 33 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points). 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 Pilot Point’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
1 listing protects 33 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Several Holiness movement denominations met in October, 1908, at a church in Pilot Point and formed what would become the Church of the Nazarene denomination.
On May 25, 2024, a tornado struck both Pilot Point and nearby Valley View resulting extensive damage (notably including a severely damaged truck stop in Valley View), several injuries and at least 7 fatalities. The tornado was assigned a rating of EF3 by the National Weather Service.
The Pilot Point post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pilot Point rank for history?
Pilot Point is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #112 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 Pilot Point?
One place: the Pilot Point Commercial Historic District (listed 2007).
How old are the homes in Pilot Point?
6% of Pilot Point’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 (1), 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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