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CHistory
History · Corte Madera

Corte Madera’s post office opened in 1878, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #337 of 847 in California. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1920.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Corte Madera’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Corte Madera began

When was Corte Madera founded?

1878

The Corte Madera post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1916. Another post office, Adams (1902), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 607 in 19202020 census: 10,222148 years

How historic is Corte Madera?

C

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Corte Madera post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1916.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Corte Madera’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Corte Madera is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #337 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Corte Madera’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.1% of homes (±4.2) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 30%
NewerOlder
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 60%

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 Corte Madera’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 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; Wikidata gives 1916.

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 Corte Madera’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18976 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1993. Watch Corte Madera change.Old housesHalf of Corte Madera’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Corte Madera’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Corte Madera’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewCorteMaderaCALM: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Corte Madera on the map, 1897 to 1993

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

Corte Madera on the 1897 USGS mapCorte Madera on the 1941 USGS mapCorte Madera on the 1954 USGS mapCorte Madera on the 1968 USGS mapCorte Madera on the 1980 USGS mapCorte Madera on the 1993 USGS map1897Tamalpais 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 Corte Madera.

The story

How Corte Madera came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Corte Madera.

Read it all →

The first post office in Corte Madera opened in 1878, and closed in 1880. The Adams post office opened in 1902, and changed its name later that year to Corte Madera. The name Adams honored Jerry Adams, its first postmaster. Corte Madera incorporated in 1916.

The town of Corte Madera is situated on a portion of Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio granted to John Reed in 1834 by Mexican Governor José Figueroa. Reed quickly took to the lumber industry, logging the area's immense supply of redwoods and shipping the lumber to San Francisco by way of Corte Madera Creek—some of this wood was used to build the Presidio in San Francisco; the town's growth continued.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Corte Madera, 1878 to 1975

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Corte Madera post office opens
  3. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Adams post office opens
  6. 1902Post officeThe Adams post office closes
  7. 1975Born herePat Duffy is born here
By decade

Corte Madera, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
CorteMaderaCALMDate?CorteMaderaCALM
Today4 recent
Aerial view of Greenbrae, September 20192019Aerial view of Greenbrae, September 2019Rowers on Corte Madera Creek2015Rowers on Corte Madera CreekCorte Madera, California2012Corte Madera, CaliforniaSalt Marsh Corte Madera, CA 949252008Salt Marsh Corte Madera, CA 94925
Every building

Corte Madera, building by building, 1909

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Corte Madera fire insurance map, 1909, sheet 11909Sheet 1 of 4
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

CorteMaderaCALM
Retake this viewCorteMaderaCALM

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Corte Madera’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Corte Madera, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00019201940196019802000202010,222

Grew from 607 people in 1920 to 10,222 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Corte Madera’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Corte Madera’s post office has been open since 1878. Another post office, Adams, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Corte Madera
1878–today
Adams
1902–1902
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ChapmanMeadowsweet

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Larkspur4 historic placesBMill Valley4 historic placesA−Tiburon5 historic placesB−StrawberryIts storyD−

Questions about Corte Madera’s history

What year was Corte Madera founded?

The Corte Madera post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1916.

How does Corte Madera rank for history?

Corte Madera is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #337 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 Corte Madera?

10% of Corte Madera’s 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 1962.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.