More historic than 7% of U.S. towns · #760 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Cathedral City was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1941 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Cathedral City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cathedral City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cathedral City is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #760 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cathedral City’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 Cathedral City’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. 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 Cathedral City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cathedral City sits at the northwestern end of the Coachella Valley between the San Bernardino Mountains to the north, and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south, with the San Gorgonio Pass to the West. The earliest established inhabitants of this region were the Cahuilla Indians. They arrived in the area around 3,000 BCE.
The Cahuilla were organized into bands of about 600 to 800 people, and it was the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians who inhabited the lands that included what would become Cathedral City.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cathedral City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1941Edom 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 Cathedral City.
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.
Retake this viewCathedral City Fire Station, 1968, 1968
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cathedral City’s page.
The Cathedral City post office opened in 1928, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cathedral City rank for history?
Cathedral City is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #760 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.
How old are the homes in Cathedral City?
0.9% of Cathedral City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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