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History · Ballico

Ballico’s post office opened in 1924

Most of Ballico was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974.

1924first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Ballico began

When was Ballico founded?

1924

The Ballico post office opened in 1924, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 347102 years
Founding year: the first Ballico post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Ballico’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Ballico are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Ballico’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ballico’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Ballico, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ballico yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Ballico is a census-designated place in Merced County, California, United States. It is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Atwater at an elevation of 151 feet (46 m). The population was 347 at the 2020 United States census, down from 406 in 2010. Ballico is located in the northern part of Merced County, just north of where the Santa Fe railroad (the original San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad line) crosses the Merced River. Delhi is to the west, Denair to the northwest, and Cressey is across the river to the southeast. The ZIP Code is 95303. The community is inside area code 209. The name is a portmanteau of Ballantine Company, owner of the ranch on which the town was built.

Its first post office opened in 1924. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 406 to 347 (-15%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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Famous people

Famous people close to Ballico

Nobody well known was born in Ballico itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

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Janet LeighAmerican actress · b. 1927
Ray AllenAmerican basketball player · b. 1975
Jalen GreenAmerican basketball player · b. 2002
Bruce BowenAmerican basketball player · b. 1971
Dot JonesAthlete, actor · b. 1964
Talitha BatemanAmerican actress · b. 2001

Questions about Ballico’s history

What year was Ballico founded?

The Ballico post office opened in 1924, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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.