Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #125 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Temple was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. 7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 112 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1890.
The Temple post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Temple is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #125 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Temple’s 13.3 sits above most of its state (88% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 119 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Temple’s post office has been open since 1881.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Temple.
Temple was founded as a railroad town by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad (GC&SF). The settlement began in 1880 as a GC&SF construction camp called Temple Junction. In January 1881, a post office was established, and the settlement was officially named Temple, after Bernard Moore Temple, the chief civil engineer of the GC&SF. The town was incorporated in 1882.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveThe Temple Times. (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, April 21, 1899
In the archiveTemple, Texas, the town which "commanded' the President's train to stop - greeting Pres. …BuiltKyle Hotel is built
Born hereRip Torn is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJoe Greene is born here
Born hereBernard A. Harris, Jr. is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1899The Temple Times. (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 19, Ed…1905Temple, Texas, the town which "commanded' the Preside…
1905Temple, Texas, the town which "commanded' the Preside…
1905Temple, Texas, the town which "commanded' the Preside…
1905Temple, Texas, the town which "commanded' the Preside…
1905Temple, Texas, the town which "commanded" the Preside…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Temple. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Temple.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Temple’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 4,047 people in 1890 to 82,073 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Temple’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Temple post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Temple is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #125 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.
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Ferguson House (listed 1978, the first), 1 historic district, the Temple Commercial Historic District, with 112 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 119 historic buildings in all.
4% of Temple’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1991.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), the Library of Congress (2), 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 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.
