More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #212 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Red Oak was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Red Oak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Red Oak’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Red Oak is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #212 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Red Oak’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 Red Oak’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 B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 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 Red Oak’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Some of the first settlers to this area were James E. Patton and his family in 1844. They settled in what is now known as Ovilla, Texas, located about 2 miles from Red Oak. Before Red Oak was given its name in 1849, it was known as Possum Trot due to the animal that lived there. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached Red Oak in 1884 and was completed in 1890,. providing service between Dallas and Waco. In 1949, Red Oak became an incorporated town of Ellis, County. In 2023, Google announced a $600 million data center campus on a 375-acre plot, right off Ovilla Road in Red Oak, making it the second data center to be built in Texas.
The Red Oak post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Red Oak rank for history?
Red Oak is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #212 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 Red Oak?
2% of Red Oak’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2007.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
