Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #397 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of El Verano was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1960.
The El Verano post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, El Verano is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #397 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 El Verano’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.
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 →
From Wikipedia’s history of El Verano.
El Verano's name is Spanish and means "The Summer." Resorts in El Verano, and the other nearby communities of Boyes Hot Springs, Fetters Hot Springs, and Agua Caliente were popular health retreats for tourists from San Francisco and points beyond until the middle of the 20th century because of the geothermic hot springs found in the area.
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of El Verano. 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 El Verano.
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 El Verano’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,236 and 4,123 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on El Verano’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in El Verano itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how El Verano’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The El Verano post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
El Verano is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #397 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.
6% of El Verano’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1976.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), 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.
c. 1860
Date?
