More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #558 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Coachella was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1941 on, and the census since 1950.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1901.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Coachella’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Coachella is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #558 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Coachella’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 Coachella’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 range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1876.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Coachella’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city was founded as Woodspur in 1876, when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a rail siding on the site to allow the harvesting of mesquite lumber for use by the railroad and later for shipment to the Los Angeles market. Jason L. Rector, an employee of Southern Pacific, was the first recorded non-Native American resident of Woodspur.
In the 1880s, in the decade after the federal government divided the land the indigenous Cahuilla tribe had historically occupied between the tribe and railroads on a checkerboard pattern, the tribe sold its land plots to the railroads for new lands east of the current town site. In the 1890s, a few hundred traqueros, including a number of immigrant Mexican railroad workers, settled along the tracks.
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.
In 1876, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Coachella’s post office opened in 1901, and the census of 1950 counted 2,755 people here.
How does Coachella rank for history?
Coachella is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #558 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 Coachella?
1% of Coachella’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 2000.
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 (2), 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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