Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #591 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Zapata was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1950.
The Zapata post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Carrizo (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 3% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Zapata is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 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 Zapata’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.
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.
Zapata’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Carrizo, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Zapata.
Zapata was named for José Antonio de Zapata (died 1839), the revolutionary commander who served in the cavalry of the Republic of the Rio Grande, of which the town was a part. The town was relocated to higher ground in 1953 prior to the completion of Falcon Dam, which left the original town center beneath the waters of Falcon Lake.
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 archive‘He Fought with Garza at Las Lajas’ — Galveston Daily News (April 9, 1892)
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey, Arthur W. Stewart, Photographer June 24, 1936 BUILDIN…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Zapata. 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 Zapata.
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 Zapata’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,400 and 7,119 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Zapata’s Wikipedia page.
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 Zapata post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Zapata is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 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.
0.0% of Zapata’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (6), 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.
1893
1936
1936
1936
