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History · Campo Seco

Campo Seco’s post office opened in 1854

Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1944 on.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Campo Seco’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Campo Seco began

When was Campo Seco founded?

1854

The Campo Seco post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

172 years
Founding year: the first Campo Seco post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Campo Seco’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Campo Seco’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Campo Seco’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHistoric American Buildings Survey Wm. …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Campo Seco, in brief

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

Campo Seco (Spanish for "Dry Field") is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Calaveras County, California, United States. It sits at an elevation of 564 feet (172 m) above sea level and is located at 38°13′38″N 120°51′12″W. The community is served by ZIP code 95226 and area code 209. Founded by Mexicans in 1849, the mining camp was quite cosmopolitan, with forty different nationalities of miners. The town was almost destroyed by a fire in 1854, but as the placers were still producing, much of the town was rebuilt. Most of the buildings that are still standing date from after the fire. The town also contains the largest living cork oak tree in California, which wa…

Its first post office opened in 1854.

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

Timeline

Campo Seco, 1854 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Campo Seco post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1963Post officeThe Campo Seco post office closes
By decade

Campo Seco, decade by decade

Date unknown4 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Photographer May 30, 1936 VIEW FROM WEST - Robert Eperson Building, …Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Ph…Historic American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Photographer VIEW FROM NORTH - Captain Messenger House, Comanche Res…Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Ph…Robert Eperson Building, Main StreetDate?Robert Eperson Building, Main StreetCaptain Messenger House, Comanche ReservoirDate?Captain Messenger House, Comanche Reservoir
On the map

Campo Seco on the map, 1944 to 1962

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

Campo Seco on the 1944 USGS mapCampo Seco on the 1956 USGS mapCampo Seco on the 1962 USGS map1944Valley Springs 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 Campo Seco.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Historic American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Photographer May 30, 1936 VIEW FROM WEST - Robert Eperson Building, …
Retake this viewHistoric American Buildings Survey Wm. H. Knowles, Photographer May 30, 1936 VIEW FROM WEST - Robert Eperson Building, …

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Campo Seco’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Campo Seco had its own post office from 1854 to 1963.

Campo Seco
1854–1963
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Pluto Minemine
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Campo Seco
Campo Seco CatholicCampo Seco Protestant

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

Questions about Campo Seco’s history

What year was Campo Seco founded?

The Campo Seco post office opened in 1854, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (2), 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.