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History · Canby

Canby’s post office opened in 1874, and 55% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1961 on.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
55%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Canby began

When was Canby founded?

1874

The Canby post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 183152 years
Founding year: the first Canby post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Canby’s 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 Canby are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Canby’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Canby’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

How Canby came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canby.

Read it all →

The first post office opened at Canby in 1874. The town was named in honor of General Edward Canby, who was shot by the Modoc tribal leader Captain Jack at a peacemaking session as part of the Modoc War. This shooting lead to the siege at Captain Jack's Stronghold.

Until the late 1940s, Canby was the site of Big Lakes Box Company and the supply point for Big Lakes Logging Camp in the Adin Mountains about 10 miles (16 km) to the southeast, where conditions were primitive.

About 9.3 mi (15 km) northwest of Canby is a California Historical Landmark number #111 about the Old Emigrant Trail.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Canby, 1874 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Canby post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1937Born hereBob Mead is born here
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Canby on the map, 1961 to 1990

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

Canby on the 1961 USGS mapCanby on the 1990 USGS map1961Canby 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 Canby.

Questions about Canby’s history

What year was Canby founded?

The Canby post office opened in 1874, 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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.