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AHistory
History · Smithville

Smithville’s post office opened in 1876, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #7 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 227 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1890.

1876first post office
2on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
8famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Smithville began

When was Smithville founded?

1876

The Smithville post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 616 in 18902020 census: 3,922150 years

How historic is Smithville?

A

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Smithville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Smithville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Smithville is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #7 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Smithville’s overall grade.
Founding era1876, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194035.2% of homes (±10.0) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register2 listings, 227 historic buildings, 538 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 87%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)#7 of 642

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 Smithville’s 538 sits above most of its state (99% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 227 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Smithville’s past

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

A historic districtThe Smithville Residential Historic District takes in 191 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Smithville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1900 to 1915, drew every building in Smithville.Famous sons and daughtersSonny Rhodes, DJ Screw and 6 more were born here.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

2 listings protect 227 historic buildings

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
227
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Smithville Commercial Historic District
Smithville Commercial Historic DistrictSmithville Residential Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular Pyramid Roof1
Bungalow/Craftsman1
Queen Anne1
Smithville Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict
Smithville Residential Historic DistrictVernacular Pyramid Roof

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

Help out

Start Smithville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Smithville’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
Every building

Smithville, building by building, 1900–1915

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.

Smithville fire insurance map, 1900, sheet 11900Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Smithville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Smithville.

Read it all →

Thomas Jefferson Gazley arrived in 1827 and set the pace of development for Smithville by building the first house and establishing the first store, which served incoming settlers. He served as a clerk in the Mexican government. Later he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and then served as a legislator in the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas.

William Smith's family arrived several years after Gazley. They also owned a store and were early influences on the area, including the naming of Smithville where about seventeen families lived on the south bank of the Colorado River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Smithville, 1876 to 1995

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Smithville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1940Born hereSonny Rhodes is born here
  6. 1948Born hereMarvin Peterson is born here
  7. 1971Born hereDJ Screw is born here
  8. 1995Born hereZach Wright is born here
By decade

Smithville, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Smithville TX Fire Dept2017Smithville TX Fire DeptSmithville TX City Hall2017Smithville TX City HallSmithville2016SmithvilleSmithville high school entry 20122012Smithville high school entry 2012Smithville gingerbread man 20122012Smithville gingerbread man 2012Long railroad museum 20122012Long railroad museum 2012
On the map

Smithville on the map, 1904 to 1982

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

Smithville on the 1904 USGS mapSmithville on the 1982 USGS map1904Bastrop sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Smithville.

People over time

Smithville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,00019001920194019601980200020203,922

Grew from 616 people in 1890 to 3,922 in 2020, 6 times over.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

8 famous people were born in Smithville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Sonny RhodesAmerican musician · b. 1940
D
DJ ScrewAmerican hip hop DJ · b. 1971
Marvin PetersonAmerican jazz trumpeter and composer · b. 1948
Z
Zach WrightAmerican soccer player · b. 1995
B
Balor MooreAmerican baseball player · b. 1951
B
Bettye CaldwellAmerican educator and university teacher · b. 1924

Questions about Smithville’s history

What year was Smithville founded?

The Smithville post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Smithville rank for history?

Smithville is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #7 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 Smithville?

Two places: the Smithville Commercial Historic District (listed 1982) and the Smithville Residential Historic District (1995).

How old are the homes in Smithville?

35% of Smithville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1967.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.