Most of Woodsboro was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1967. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1930.
Founding year: the first Woodsboro post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Woodsboro’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodsboro is more historic than 9% 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 Woodsboro’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 Woodsboro’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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 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 Woodsboro’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Woodsboro is located in southwestern Refugio County, five miles southwest of the city of Refugio at the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 (Future Interstate 69E) and Farm to Market Road 2441. The town began as part of a land development project organized in 1906 by W. C. Johnson and George P. Pugh, experienced developers from Danville, Illinois. The town was originally called Church because it was located just north of the Church siding on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, which built through the area in 1906. The town site was laid out in November and December 1906, and by February 1907 Johnson and Pugh had completed the town's first structure, a wooden hotel built to house prospective land buyers. ("This is the Real Garden of the Lord," a large sign painted on the side of the hotel advised visitors.) A post office was established in the hotel later that year, and the town's…
The Woodsboro post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Woodsboro rank for history?
Woodsboro is more historic than 9% 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 Woodsboro?
2% of Woodsboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (2), 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.
2012
