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San Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological DistrictSan Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological District · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0
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History · San Felipe

San Felipe’s post office opened in 1826, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of San Felipe was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1880.

1826first post office
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How San Felipe began

When was San Felipe founded?

1826

The San Felipe post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 156 in 18802020 census: 691200 years
Founding year: the first San Felipe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about San Felipe’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1920 and 1950, then more than doubled.Deep rootsA post office since 1826: 200 years of San Felipe.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start San Felipe’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how San Felipe’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
People over time

San Felipe, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020451 in 1920Low: 296

Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1950, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

San Felipe, 1826 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe San Felipe post office opens
  3. 1879In the archiveMap of the Reservation of Fort
  4. 20th century
  5. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 21st century
  7. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 868
The story

How San Felipe came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of San Felipe.

Read it all →

In 1823, John McFarland operated a ferry on the Brazos River near this location. In the fall of the same year, the site was chosen by Stephen F. Austin, with the help of Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, to be the main site in Texas for American colonization. Founded in 1824 as San Felipe de Austin, the town served as the capital of Stephen F. Austin's first colony and the founding site of the Texas Rangers.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

San Felipe, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item
Map of the Reservation of Fort1879Map of the Reservation of FortMap
Today5 recent
EXIT 723 FM 14582019EXIT 723 FM 1458San-felipe-tx2016-62016San-felipe-tx2016-6San Felipe TX Town Marker2016San Felipe TX Town MarkerSan Felipe TX Post Office2016San Felipe TX Post OfficeSan Felipe TX Fire Dept2016San Felipe TX Fire Dept
On the map

San Felipe on the map, 1956 to 1980

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

San Felipe on the 1956 USGS mapSan Felipe on the 1960 USGS mapSan Felipe on the 1980 USGS map1956Sealy 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 San Felipe.

On the National Register

1 historic place in San Felipe

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2016
San Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological…
San Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological District
Districts
San Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological DistrictDistrict

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to San Felipe

Nobody well known was born in San Felipe itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Renée ZellwegerAmerican actress · b. 1969
Andy DaltonAmerican football player · b. 1987
Dobie GrayAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1940
D
Debra SapenterAmerican sprinter · b. 1952
P
Patrick ZurekAmerican RC bishop · b. 1948
E
Errol NolanAmerican sprinter · b. 1991

Questions about San Felipe’s history

What year was San Felipe founded?

The San Felipe post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in San Felipe?

One place: the San Felipe de Austin Historic and Archeological District (listed 2016).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.