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History · Butte Meadows

Butte Meadows’ post office opened in 1878, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1958 on.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Butte Meadows began

When was Butte Meadows founded?

1878

The Butte Meadows post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 74148 years
Founding year: the first Butte Meadows post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Butte Meadows’ 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 Butte Meadows are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Butte Meadows’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Butte Meadows’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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The story so far

Butte Meadows, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Butte Meadows yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Butte Meadows is a census-designated place in Butte County, California, United States, five miles off State Route 32 on Humboldt Road. The area is about 45 minutes or 33 miles (53 km) east of Chico on SR32. Its elevation is listed at 4,340 feet (1,323 m) above sea level: certain to get snow in winter of any year. The area code is Area code 530. The area is just over one mile (1.6 km) from the Tehama County line. The post office that served Butte Meadows moved back and forth across the county line several times from 1878 to 1888. Butte Meadows' population was 74 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 40 to 74 (+85%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Butte Meadows, 1878 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Butte Meadows post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1967Post officeThe Butte Meadows post office closes
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.

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On the map

Butte Meadows on the map, 1958 to 1991

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

Butte Meadows on the 1958 USGS mapButte Meadows on the 1991 USGS map1958Butte Meadows 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 Butte Meadows.

Famous people

Famous people close to Butte Meadows

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

See all →
Aaron RodgersAmerican football player · b. 1983
D
Donovan ScottAmerican actor · b. 1947
Pat MastelottoAmerican musician · b. 1955
Brian CageAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1984
H
Haley CopeAmerican swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, worl… · b. 1979
M
Matt LucenaUS tennis player · b. 1969
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Butte Meadows had its own post office from 1878 to 1967.

Butte Meadows
1878–1967
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Butte Meadows Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Butte Meadows’ history

What year was Butte Meadows founded?

The Butte Meadows post office opened in 1878, 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 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.