Founding year: the first Van Vleck post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Van Vleck’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Vleck is more historic than 8% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van Vleck’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 Van Vleck’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 still be D. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 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 Van Vleck’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Van Vleck yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Van Vleck is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Van Vleck had a population of 1,923. The population total represents one of the few areas with positive growth in Matagorda County. Although near Bay City, the site of Van Vleck falls outside the ETJ of Bay City and is regulated by county police and county ordinance.
Its first post office opened in 1901. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,844 to 1,923 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Van Vleck, 1901 to 1961
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Van Vleck post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Van Vleck rank for history?
Van Vleck is more historic than 8% 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 Van Vleck?
1% of Van Vleck’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1985.
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), 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.
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