Founding year: the first Tatum post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tatum’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tatum is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tatum’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 Tatum’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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 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 Tatum’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Tatum was settled in the 1840s by Albert Tatum and his second wife, Mary C. (Rippetoe) Tatum. In 1848, they built a large plantation there. In 1885, the Santa Fe Railway came through, and the town was divided into individual lots. One of their sons, Paul "Uncle Fox" Tatum, who studied architecture in New York, laid out the streets. He became the postmaster in 1886. The city of Tatum lies along Trammel's Trace, an old trade route; a marker at the south end of town commemorates it. In the city park stands the restored Santa Fe depot.
The Tatum post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Tatum rank for history?
Tatum is more historic than 22% 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 Tatum?
5% of Tatum’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1850
2019
2004