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CHistory
History · Big Pine

Big Pine’s post office opened in 1870

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Big Pine was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1926 on.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Big Pine’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Big Pine began

When was Big Pine founded?

1870

The Big Pine post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,875156 years

How historic is Big Pine?

C

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Big Pine post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Big Pine’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Big Pine is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. 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 Big Pine’s overall grade.
Founding era1870, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19409.7% of homes (±6.0) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder

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 Big Pine’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 (±6.0 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 Big Pine’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Big Pine’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGlacier Lodge Big Pine Frasher 1926: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Big Pine came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Big Pine.

Read it all →

The Big Pine post office first opened in 1870, closed for a time during 1877, changed its name to Bigpine in 1895, and reverted to Big Pine in 1962.

Big Pine has a significant geologic feature (an earthquake scarp) related to the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake.

In 1958, the Owens Valley Radio Observatory was established just north of Big Pine.

Matt Williams, a professional baseball player and manager, lived there for part of his life. Hollywood character actor Elisha Cook, Jr., known for such classic films as The Maltese Falcon and Shane, had a home in Big Pine and died there in 1995.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Big Pine, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Glacier Lodge Big Pine Frasher 19261926Glacier Lodge Big Pine Frasher 1926
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Navette Columbia traversant le ciel de Californie2012Navette Columbia traversant le ciel de Californiepanoramio (1790)2011panoramio (1790)Young giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum in2010Young giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum inpanoramio (1745)2007panoramio (1745)Big Pine landscape2006Big Pine landscape
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Glacier Lodge Big Pine Frasher 1926
Retake this viewGlacier Lodge Big Pine Frasher 1926, 1926

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Big Pine’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Big Pine’s history

What year was Big Pine founded?

The Big Pine post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Big Pine rank for history?

Big Pine is more historic than 29% 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.

How old are the homes in Big Pine?

10% of Big Pine’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1978.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.