Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #338 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1920.
The Robstown post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Robstown is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #338 of 642 in Texas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Robstown’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Robstown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Robstown.
From Wikipedia’s history of Robstown.
The area that would become Robstown was likely in the range of several different, nearby Native American tribes that were active in the Texas Gulf Coast. This would have included Karankawa, the Lipan-Apache, Tonkawa, and Coahuiltecan peoples. It is not known if the exact area of Robstown was inhabited by Indigenous people.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHill Hardware & Implement Company
Born hereSolomon P. Ortiz is born here
Born hereEddie Jackson is born here
Born hereAbel Herrero is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 sheet.
1922Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Robstown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 948 and 12,849 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Robstown’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Robstown’s post office has been open since 1905.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Robstown post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Robstown is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #338 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.
10% of Robstown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1970.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), 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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