Founding year: the first Stratford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Stratford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stratford is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stratford’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 Stratford’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 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 Stratford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Stratford was first settled around 1885, when a man named Aaron Norton bought 100 parcels of land from the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway. His manager, Walter Colton, named it for Stratford Hall, the childhood home of Robert E. Lee, whom he admired. A post office was established in 1900. In July 1901, Stratford was voted county seat, replacing Coldwater. In 1928, the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway was connected to Stratford. The city was incorporated at some point before 1940.
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.
Between 472 and 2,139 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Stratford’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Stratford’s history
What year was Stratford founded?
The Stratford post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Stratford rank for history?
Stratford is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Stratford?
17% of Stratford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1961.
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), 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) 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.
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