Most of Corralitos was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Corralitos post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Corralitos’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Corralitos is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Corralitos’ 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 Corralitos’ 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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). 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 Corralitos’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Corralitos. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1912Capitola 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 Corralitos.
The story so far
Corralitos, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Corralitos yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Corralitos (Spanish for "Small pens") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. It is a rural area known for its agriculture of apples and strawberries, and its notable Corralitos Market and Sausage Co. Moreover, its location near the Pacific Ocean optimizes viticulture. The population was 2,342 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1861. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,326 in 2010, 2,342 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Corralitos, 1879–1911
Passages that mention Corralitos, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Santa Cruz County, California1879 · page 92Read the page →
Read the text
His fine farm of 106 acres is situated in and near the village of Corralitos, seven miles north of Watsonville, and one-half mile from the school-house and post-office. The farm is well watered and timbered, and is very productive. The orchard consists of 150 trees, in which he grows apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, also small fruits of all kinds.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The elder Malcolm moved to Corralitos when James was about five years old, and it was in the public schools of that place that the son received his first schooling. After leaving the school at Corralitos he engaged in business with his father, who was dealing in horses and other live stock, After a short-time thus spent he again entered school, this time the high school at San Jose, completing the junior year, and then took a business college course. This completed he went to Dougherty's Mill, in the Santa Clara Valley, and was for twelve months employed there as bookkeeper. He spent the next year as salesman for Moore & Smith at their Stockton lumber yard, and the next as
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Santa Cruz County, California1892 · page 64Read the page →
Read the text
dition. The owners declined to rebuild, gathered what machinery they could out of the wreck, and removed their establishment to another part of the State. Two paper mills are now in successful operation in the county, one at Soquel, a village about four miles from Santa Cruz, and another at Corralitos, about eight miles from Watsonville. Both of these mills manufacture paper from straw, furnished principally from the grain-fields of Pajaro Valley, for the mill at Corralitos, and from the fields adjacent to the mill at Soquel.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Santa Cruz County, California1911 · page 52Read the page →
Read the text
dustries were being started in the shape of saw mills. Isaac Graham, a pioneer, is credited with having erected the first saw mill on Zayante creek in 1842 or '43. Pewett Sinclair, another pioneer, operated a mill on the Corralitos creek, and a very crude affair it was. In the early '50s government land, that is, section land, was being looked up and located.
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
Corralitos, 1861 to 1923
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Corralitos post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Corralitos rank for history?
Corralitos is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. 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 Corralitos?
7% of Corralitos’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
