More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #306 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Winnie was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Winnie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Winnie’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Winnie is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #306 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Winnie’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 Winnie’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 (±7.4 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 Winnie’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town plat was filed in 1895 by the Gulf and Inter-state Railway officials. The town was named after Fox Winnie, a railroad contractor who worked for the line. The Winnie and Loan Improvement Company attempted to market small lots of land, but due to poor sales, the company was dissolved in 1911. In 1941 an oilfield was discovered nearby, leading the way for the oil businessman Glenn H. McCarthy to establish a gas plant just east of the town. This development, along with the construction of Interstate 10, would lead to population growth. The East Chambers County Consolidated School District was established in 1931.
The Winnie post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Winnie rank for history?
Winnie is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #306 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.
How old are the homes in Winnie?
5% of Winnie’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
