Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Valentine Rey House. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1900.
The Belvedere post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Belvedere is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Belvedere’s 4.3 sits above most of its state (86% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belvedere’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Belvedere. 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 Belvedere.
From Wikipedia’s history of Belvedere.
Belvedere incorporated as a city in 1896. Its first post office was opened in 1897. It was formerly home to a fish cannery.
Belvedere's City Hall was originally a Presbyterian Church. It was moved to its present location on San Rafael Avenue in 1949.
In 2016, Belvedere City Council approved a twin-city agreement with Portofino, Italy.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereEleanor Garatti is born here
Born hereWilliam S. Mailliard is born here
2026View of Bay from Belvedere Hill - 2026
2026Stairs leading to small beach in Belvedere - 2026
2026Staircase in Belvedere - 2026
2026San Francisco panorama from Tiburon peninsula, 3 Apri…
2025Belvedere Island seen from Angel Island
2019Shops in Belvedere, 2019
2019Belvedere Island from a ferry, June 2019
2019Belvedere City Hall in 2019
2018Angel Island Tiburon Belvedere aerial
2017First Church of Christ, Scientist
2016Belvedere Lagoon in July 2016
2014Tiburon et la baie de SFO
2013View from Angel Island towards Tiburon-Belvedere
2013Belvedere Island in Marin County California from Tibu…
2012Tiburon, Marin County, California
2012Tiburon Peninsula, San Francisco, California
2012Tiburon Peninsula, San Francisco, California
2012San Francisco Belvedere Tiburon
2010San Francisco Bay from the air in May 2010 04
2010Sailing
2010Belvedere, California in 2010
2009Valentine Rey House
2007Belvedere-TiburonThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 434 and 2,599 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Belvedere’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Belvedere had its own post office from 1897 to 1956.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Belvedere post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Belvedere is more historic than 61% 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.
One place: the Valentine Rey House (listed 1982).
17% of Belvedere’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (23), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
