Taylor’s post office opened in 1880, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #46 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 83 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Taylor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Taylor’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taylor is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Taylor’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 Taylor’s 53.1 sits above most of its state (94% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 91 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Taylor’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Taylor, building by building, 1885–1923
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.
In 1876, the Texas Land Company auctioned lots in anticipation of the arrival of the International-Great Northern Railroad when Taylor was founded that year. The city was named after Edward Moses Taylor, a railroad official, under the name Taylorsville, which officially became Taylor in 1892. Immigrants from Moravia and Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and other Slavic states, as well as from Germany and Austria, helped establish the town. It soon became a busy shipping point for cattle, grain, and cotton.
Passages that mention Taylor, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Early history of Texas. Early history of Williamson County. The Webster massacre. Williamson County Court House sketches. Sketches of early days in Taylor1920Read the page →
Read the text
was a house and perhaps one near Flag Springs. These nearby settlements appear to have been only temporary habitations. With the exception of the three named locations there were no other permanent settlements nearer the town site of Taylor in 1876 'than the one at Wilson Springs which was originally settled in 1849 by John Gooch, and later passed into the hands of R. W. Wilson, father of Charles B. Wilson.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Early history of Texas. Early history of Williamson County. The Webster massacre. Williamson County Court House sketches. Sketches of early days in Taylor1920Read the page →
Read the text
Taylor was part of a Methodist circuit until about the fall of 1885 when Rev. John M. Barcus was appointed to the Taylor station, and half of the time given to Temple. Before this time services were conducted at the Odd Fellows' building and perhaps at other places before the church building was erected in 1885.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Taylor, 1880 to 1964
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Taylor’s history
What year was Taylor founded?
The Taylor post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Taylor rank for history?
Taylor is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Taylor?
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the McFadin House (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Taylor Downtown Historic District, with 83 contributing buildings. 91 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Taylor?
16% of Taylor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (7), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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