Most of Dollar Point was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1990.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dollar Point is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dollar Point’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 Dollar Point’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Dollar Point’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1884 the Glenbrook Mills logged 337 acres on a point on Lake Tahoe. In 1898 Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company (D.L. Bliss) was formed and built 16 miles (26 km) of narrow gauge track into the area that became known as Dollar Point. Southern Pacific leased the track rights in 1925 and converted the tracks to Standard gauge in 1926, bought the property in 1933, and abandoned the tracks in 1943. In 1916 Lora Josephine Knight bought the point. The land was originally part of an area called Chinquapin by the Washoe Indians. Robert Dollar purchased many properties such as the 1,436 acres in Rossmoor, California and in 1927 he purchased the area that had been called "Old Lousy", "the lousy point", and Observatory Point, from Lora Knight. She became well known for building Vikingsholm Castle in 1929. She and her husband were also primary financial backers of Charles Lindbergh's …
Dollar Point is more historic than 12% 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 Dollar Point?
2% of Dollar Point’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 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.
