The Auberry post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Meadow Lakes (1930), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,866 in 19902020 census: 3,238142 years
How historic is Auberry?
C
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Auberry post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Auberry’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Auberry is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #327 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Auberry’s overall grade.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Auberry’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California 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 (±7.9 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 Auberry’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Auberry post office was established in 1884, and following moves in 1887 and 1888, it was located at its present site in 1906. The place is named for Al Yarborough and is spelled phonetically as his name was pronounced.
The Auberry Band of the Mono people was called unaħpaahtyħ, (that which is on the other side [of the San Joaquin River]) in the Mono language.
Auberry was also a stop on the San Joaquin and Eastern Railroad, which was built to facilitate the construction of the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project.
Passages that mention Auberry, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present1919 · page 1820Read the page →
Read the text
ing enough spare time for studying and reading to gain sufficient knowledge to enable him to take the examination for a school teacher, which' he successfully passed and received his certificate to teach ; his first school being at Auberry Valley, in 1886. Mr. Ward continued to teach intermittently for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Auberry, 1884 to 1953
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Auberry post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Auberry rank for history?
Auberry is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #327 of 847 in California. 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 Auberry?
12% of Auberry’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
