Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1857.
History grade
What drives San Saba’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, San Saba is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #138 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of San Saba’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 San Saba’s 3.3 sits above most of its state (78% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±4.5 points). Two sources give 1854.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 San Saba’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.
Famous people
10 famous people were born in San Saba
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of San Saba yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
San Saba is a city in and the county seat of San Saba County, Texas, United States. It was settled in 1854 and named for its location on the San Saba River and for Sabbas the Sanctified. As of the 2020 census, San Saba had a population of 3,117.
San Saba was established in 1854. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,099 in 2010, 3,117 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
San Saba, 1854 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
San Saba, census by census
Between 111 and 3,400 people in every census since 1860.
15 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on San Saba’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about San Saba’s history
What year was San Saba founded?
In 1854, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. San Saba’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1860 counted 111 people here.
How does San Saba rank for history?
San Saba is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #138 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 San Saba?
One place: the San Saba County Courthouse (listed 2003).
How old are the homes in San Saba?
10% of San Saba’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), 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.
1982
1982
2011
2006
