Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Bodfish was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1980.
The Bodfish post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Vaughn (1897), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bodfish is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Bodfish’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.
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 Bodfish’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bodfish.
The place was named for George Homer Bodfish, who settled nearby in 1867.
The Bodfish post office first opened in 1892, closed in 1895, and re-opened in 1906. The Vaughn post office was moved to Bodfish in 1906.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bodfish, cut from the printed page as they were published.
sixty acres of government land on the North Fork about three miles above Kernville, which he began to improve and on which he prospered as a stockraise-- and general farmer until 1897. Then he sold his land and became a merchant at Bodfish, where he built and started the first store and sold goods until 1906, when he took up his residence at Mojave. There he is the owner of a liquor store, at the same time owning a business place at Isabella, which he leases. For many years he gave his attention to farming and cattle raising on the South Fork of the Kern river, but has lately sold out his stock-raising
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
until the fall of 1872. In that year he became a miner in Pioche, Nev., and in 1873 he started for Panamint, at the time of the excitement in Death Valley, where he prospected until the spring of 1874, and then came to Kern county. Soon afterward he began mining on the Bodfish, where he built an arrastre and operated it for seven years. Next he located and opened the Centennial mine on Erskine creek, operating it until he sold it to good advantage, when he purchased the present ranch from the railroad company and began improving it, and during the past seventeen years has
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bodfish. 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 Bodfish.
Between 1,283 and 2,008 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bodfish’s Wikipedia page.
Bodfish’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, Vaughn, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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 Bodfish post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bodfish is more historic than 22% 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.
5% of Bodfish’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (2), Wikipedia, 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 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.
c. 2008
c. 2007