The Cazadero post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Austin (1881) and Ingrams (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 298137 years
Founding year: the first Cazadero post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Cazadero’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cazadero was the northern terminus of the North Pacific Coast Railroad, originally laid as narrow-gauge track in the 1870s. This railhead was fed by several smaller-gauge systems dedicated to logging and networks of logging roads and trails which brought trees to Duncans Mill for processing and shipment south to San Francisco. Local legend holds that much of San Francisco was rebuilt after the disastrous April 1906 earthquake and fire using redwood and other lumber from the Cazadero area. Cazadero timbers are also known to have been used in pilings sunk to support the old eastern span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (which was replaced by a new span in 2013; the old eastern span was subsequently demolished.)
Passages that mention Cazadero, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time1911 · page 195Read the page →
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ber of small places, mill stations, as Moscow, Tyrone, Russian River Station and Markham's, are scattered here and there through these forest groves. The North Pacific Coast road rnntinu.es up Austin creek vaile\- to its present ternu'nus at Cazadero.
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History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time1911 · page 1033Read the page →
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Cazadero, where he had a well-equipped barn with accommodations for seventyfive head of horses and a complete outfit of vehicles. These were let to the public at reasonable prices. He sold the livery business in November, 1910, and located in Guerneville, where he now makes his residence, having leased his farm.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Cazadero, 1881 to 1900
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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 (6), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
2010
2010
2009
