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History · Berry Creek

Berry Creek’s post office opened in 1875

Most of Berry Creek was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1948 on.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Berry Creek began

When was Berry Creek founded?

1875

The Berry Creek post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sand Rock (1862) and Johnson (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,637151 years
Founding year: the first Berry Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Berry Creek’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 Berry Creek are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Berry Creek, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Berry Creek’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Berry Creek’s post office has been open since 1875. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sand Rock
1862–1864
Berry Creek
1875–today
Johnson
1881–1882
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Moseley
Gone or out of use
Harts MilllocaleJamison Ranchlocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Berry Creek
BALD ROCK INDIANLake Madrone

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Berry Creek came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Berry Creek.

Read it all →

Berry Creek's first post office was established in 1875 being transferred from Oak Arbor; it changed locations several times before being closed in 1912. It was re-established in 1913, closed again in 1926, and re-opened in 1927.

In November 2018, the Camp Fire, a major wildfire that destroyed Paradise and Concow, threatened all of Berry Creek. Wooded areas of Berry Creek were burnt and some structures were destroyed. Most of Berry Creek was evacuated for two weeks from November 10–24.

On the evening of September 9, 2020, the Bear Fire reached the edge of town at 10 PM PDT and burned nearly all the structures in Berry Creek to the ground, destroying Berry Creek. 14 people were killed in the town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Berry Creek, 1862 to 1948

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Sand Rock post office opens
  3. 1864Post officeThe Sand Rock post office closes
  4. 1875Post officeThe Berry Creek post office opens
  5. 1881Post officeThe Johnson post office opens
  6. 1882Post officeThe Johnson post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1902Born hereFrank Day is born here
  9. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Berry Creek on the map, 1948 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Berry Creek. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Berry Creek on the 1948 USGS mapBerry Creek on the 1950 USGS mapBerry Creek on the 1970 USGS mapBerry Creek on the 1994 USGS map1948Las Plumas sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Berry Creek.

Questions about Berry Creek’s history

What year was Berry Creek founded?

The Berry Creek post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.