Calistoga’s post office opened in 1865, and 9 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #120 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Calistoga was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Calistoga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Calistoga’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Calistoga is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #120 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Calistoga’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 Calistoga’s 21.5 sits above most of its state (95% of California towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% 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 (±5.3 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 Calistoga’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
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.
The Upper Napa Valley was once the home of a significant population of Indigenous People, called the Wappo, during the Spanish colonial era of the late 18th century. With abundant oak trees providing acorns as a food staple and the natural hot springs as a healing ground Calistoga (Wappo: Nilektsonoma, meaning "Chicken Hawk Place") was the site of several villages. Following Mexican Independence, mission properties were secularized and disposed of by the Mexican government with much of the Napa Valley being partitioned into large ranchos in the 1830s and 1840s. The first Anglo settlers began arriving in the 1840s, with several taking up lands in the Calistoga area.
The Calistoga post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Calistoga rank for history?
Calistoga is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #120 of 847 in California. 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.
What is on the National Register in Calistoga?
9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Napa Valley Railroad Depot (listed 1977, the first), and 2 structures. 11 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Calistoga?
7% of Calistoga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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