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History · Silverton

Silverton’s post office opened in 1891, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

1891first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Charles Henry · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Silverton began

When was Silverton founded?

1891

The Silverton post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 629135 years
Founding year: the first Silverton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Silverton’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Silverton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Silverton’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Silverton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Silverton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Silverton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Silverton.

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Silverton was established when Thomas J. Braidfoot and associates formed a townsite company, with the name reportedly derived from the silvery reflections of nearby lakes. The town quickly developed with a post office, stores, a blacksmith shop, and a school by the fall of 1891. In 1892, Silverton won a special election, becoming the county seat over two rival townsites. The construction of a two-story courthouse and a stone jail followed. The town saw the opening of the first bank in 1909 and the construction of a new brick schoolhouse in 1911.

Silverton became the northern terminus of the Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway in 1928, leading to its incorporation.

A F4 tornado in 1957 killed twenty-one people and injured 80 others.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Silverton, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Briscoe county courthouse2018Briscoe county courthouseBriscoeCountyCourthouse (1 of 1)2017BriscoeCountyCourthouse (1 of 1)Texas 86 & 2562014Texas 86 & 256City Hall2014City Hall

Questions about Silverton’s history

What year was Silverton founded?

The Silverton post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 (4), 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.