Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1942 on.
The Cuyama post office opened in 1942, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cuyama’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cuyama.
Rancho Cuyama, which consisted of 22,200 acres, was granted to Jose Maria Rojo in 1843. In 1943, Richfield Oil Company started oil exploration in the area, followed by the Norris Oil Company five years later. In 1952, Atlantic Richfield established New Cuyama four miles west of Cuyama to house its employees.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cuyama. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cuyama.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cuyama’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Cuyama itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Cuyama post office opened in 1942, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2021
2021
