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History · Blacklake

Half of Blacklake’s homes were built after 1995

Most of Blacklake was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1897 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Blacklake’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 Blacklake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18976 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1994. Watch Blacklake change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Blacklake’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blacklake’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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On the map

Blacklake on the map, 1897 to 1994

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

Blacklake on the 1897 USGS mapBlacklake on the 1942 USGS mapBlacklake on the 1952 USGS mapBlacklake on the 1965 USGS mapBlacklake on the 1979 USGS mapBlacklake on the 1994 USGS map1897Arroyo Grande sheet · 1:62,500

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

The story

How Blacklake came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Blacklake.

Read it all →

The Nipomo Mesa lies within the ancestral homeland of the Northern Chumash, also known as the Obispeño, who have lived in the region for more than 10,000 years and who traded shell beads and fine-grained tool stone between coastal and interior villages. Archaeological survey of the mesa has recorded prehistoric camps and villages along the tops of the bluffs and the older dunes, with further sites inland near springs and along Black Lake Canyon, where large, low-density settlements have been documented.

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors adopted the Black Lake Specific Plan on February 28, 1983. The plan provided for residential and recreational development centered on the golf course.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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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Famous people

Famous people close to Blacklake

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

See all →
Zac EfronAmerican actor and singer · b. 1987
J
Julián AraujoMexican-American soccer player · b. 2001
Stephanie Brown TraftonAmerican discus thrower · b. 1979
Robert HunterAmerican lyricist, musician, singer-songwriter,… · b. 1941
Chelsea JohnsonAmerican pole vaulter · b. 1983
C
Chris SeitzAmerican soccer player · b. 1987
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Nipomo1 historic placeC

Questions about Blacklake’s history

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 and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.