Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #54 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of San Marcos was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. 40 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 76 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
San Marcos dates its founding to 1808 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, San Marcos is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #54 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 San Marcos’ 17.9 sits above most of its state (90% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 127 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of San Marcos.
Archeologists have found evidence at the San Marcos River associated with the Clovis culture, which suggests that the river has been the site of human habitation for more than 10,000 years. The San Marcos Springs are the third-largest collection of springs in Texas. Never in recorded history has the river run dry.
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.
In the archiveOld map-San Marcos-1881
In the archiveTexas
Born hereLucious Jackson is born here
Born hereLynda Day George is born here
In the archiveSanmarcosaaf-1946
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJon Ecker is born here
Born hereTaurean Prince is born here
In the archiveSanmarcosapt-j28jan19954 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of San Marcos. 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 San Marcos.
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 San Marcos’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 741 people in 1870 to 67,553 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on San Marcos’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
San Marcos’s post office has been open since 1846.
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.
In 1808, according to Wikidata. San Marcos’ post office opened in 1846, and the census of 1870 counted 741 people here.
San Marcos is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #54 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.
40 listings: 34 buildings, among them the Cock House (listed 1973, the first), 4 historic districts with 76 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 127 historic buildings in all.
2% of San Marcos’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (40), 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.
1917
1917
