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History · Darwin

Darwin’s post office opened in 1875

Most of Darwin was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 2000.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Stammberger1973 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Darwin began

When was Darwin founded?

1875

The Darwin post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 54 in 20002020 census: 36151 years
Founding year: the first Darwin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Darwin’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Darwin are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Darwin’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Darwin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Darwin.

Read it all →

The town is named after Darwin French (1822–1902), a local rancher, miner, and explorer.

According to Erwin Gudde, French of Fort Tejon was with a party of prospectors in the area during the fall of 1850. French also led a party into Death Valley in 1860 to search for the mythical Gunsight Lode via the local wash, lending his first name to the wash, canyon, and future town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Darwin in 1909

Passages that mention Darwin, cut from the printed page as they were published.

It was not an accident that Charles Darwin was an inquirer. His grandfather, the quaint interesting character whose biography Charles Darwin wrote, was a physician and a poet; a physician who refused to be a materialist, and a poet who refused to cease to be practical. The strain of Darwin's tenden…
From poet to premier. The centennial cycle 1809-1909. Poe, Lincoln, Holmes, Darwin, Tennyson, Gladstone1909Read the page →
Read the text

It was not an accident that Charles Darwin was an inquirer. His grandfather, the quaint interesting character whose biography Charles Darwin wrote, was a physician and a poet; a physician who refused to be a materialist, and a poet who refused to cease to be practical. The strain of Darwin's tendency is seen in

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Darwin's father was a physician. One thing came to Charles Darwin out of his medical ancestry, and that was continued ill health. He was a chronic invalid, in no way lacking courage, also confirmed and constant. And yet it must be said of his father, who accumulated a fortune in his profession, tha…
From poet to premier. The centennial cycle 1809-1909. Poe, Lincoln, Holmes, Darwin, Tennyson, Gladstone1909Read the page →
Read the text

Darwin's father was a physician. One thing came to Charles Darwin out of his medical ancestry, and that was continued ill health. He was a chronic invalid, in no way lacking courage, also confirmed and constant. And yet it must be said of his father, who accumulated a fortune in his profession, that his bodily presence was

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.

By decade

Darwin, decade by decade

Today14 recent
Proceeding into2020Proceeding intoMore do it yourself housing in2020More do it yourself housing inHeading into the Mountains of Darwin for a Nighttime Fluorescent Mineral Hunt2020Heading into the Mountains of Darwin for a Nighttime …Group of Rocks under Shortwave UV from a Mine Dump Near2020Group of Rocks under Shortwave UV from a Mine Dump Ne…Darwin Monument at the Intersection of HWY 190 and Darwin Road2020Darwin Monument at the Intersection of HWY 190 and Da…Darwin Historic Marker at the Intersection of HWY 190 and Darwin Road2020Darwin Historic Marker at the Intersection of HWY 190…BLM Road Sign from Darwin Road2020BLM Road Sign from Darwin RoadApproaching Darwin on Darwin Road2020Approaching Darwin on Darwin RoadAnother look at Darwin While Driving into Town2020Another look at Darwin While Driving into TownA view from Outside of Darwin along Darwin Road2020A view from Outside of Darwin along Darwin RoadA look at Darwin to the North While Driving into Town2020A look at Darwin to the North While Driving into TownA View while Navigating the Many Twists and Turns of the BLM dirt Roads north of2020A View while Navigating the Many Twists and Turns of …Darwin, California2013Darwin, CaliforniaDarwincalifornia2003Darwincalifornia
On the map

Darwin on the map, 1950 to 1987

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

Darwin on the 1950 USGS mapDarwin on the 1987 USGS map1950Darwin 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 Darwin.

People over time

Darwin, census by census

020002020Peak: 54

Between 36 and 54 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Questions about Darwin’s history

What year was Darwin founded?

The Darwin post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (14), Wikipedia, 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.