Founding year: the first Blue Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1910.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Blue Lake’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Blue Lake is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Blue Lake’s overall grade.
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 Blue Lake’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 B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1910.
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 Blue Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1889Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Blue Lake on the map, 1922 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blue Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1922Korbel 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 Blue Lake.
Present Blue Lake comprises "old" Blue Lake, Powersville, and Scottsville. In 1854, Augusta Bates settled in the Scottsville area and sold to Brice M. Stokes in 1862. In 1861, the 13-acre Blue Lake was formed from flooding of the north fork of Mad River, and it gave the town a resort atmosphere. As the river changed course in the 1920s, the lake disappeared to become what today is a small pond on private property.
In 1866, William Scott purchased land from Brice M. Stokes and established "Scott's Farm," later becoming Scottsville. Powersville was established in 1869 by David Powers on land originally claimed by Augusta Bates, Brice M. Stokes and William Scott.
Passages that mention Blue Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Humboldt County, California1915 · page 1035Read the page →
Read the text
At this time the company changed hands and was thereafter knoAvn as the Jackson-Graham Company. They retained the services of Mr. Inman, and ten of the seventeen years of his employment there he was foreman of their mill. Later he removed his family from Blue Lake to Riverside and for many years they made their home there. In 1900 he purchased property in Blue Lake and again built a home there for his family. That year he left the mill at Riverside and went to work for Isaac Minor, contracting for the building of houses and mills throughout the county. For
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Humboldt County, California1915 · page 139Read the page →
Read the text
Blue Lake is an incorporated city situated twenty miles north of Eureka. It is on the Areata & Mad River Railroad, which connects at Areata with the Northwestern Pacific Railway. Within the school district there is a population of 1000. Surrounded by heavily timbered hills, and above the fog belt, Blue Lake has an almost perfect climate, unexcelled by any place on the coast. The fertile acres surrounding the town are used for dairying, general ranching, and the raising of berries and small fruits. These, with the lumbering industry, are the chief support of the town. The town is the principal distributing point for all of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Blue Lake, 1878 to 1945
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
Between 441 and 1,253 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blue Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Blue Lake’s history
What year was Blue Lake founded?
The Blue Lake post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1910.
How does Blue Lake rank for history?
Blue Lake is more historic than 52% 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 Blue Lake?
34% of Blue Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1959.
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, 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
2012
2012
2011