Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #237 of 847 in California. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1940.
The Fairfax post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Manor (1915), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairfax is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #237 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls 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 Fairfax’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 →
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 Fairfax’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairfax. 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 Fairfax.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fairfax.
The Coast Miwok Native Americans occupied stretches along local creeks, spring and seep areas; moreover, prehistoric habitations were usually chosen near permanent and seasonal drainages, typically along flat ridges and terraces.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fairfax, cut from the printed page as they were published.
They lie contiguous to the line of the North Pacific Coast Railroad and the county road, east, and west from San Rafael runs nearly parallel to the general course of the outcroppings, which can be plainly seen to extend from near Fairfax station, on the above mentioned road, for about four miles, in a south eighty degrees west course. The foot wall of syenite as well as the hanging wall, can be plainly seen at various points over the four miles, and show a very wide and true fissure, these walls being from two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy-
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNorth Pacific Coast RR 1887 ad
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereLonnie Mayne is born here
In the archiveElliott Preserve San Anselmo Creek, Fairfax, CA 11.96 Charles Kennard2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2018Eastern Gray Squirrel Fairfax Inn CA 2018-09-16 13-41…
2018Eastern Gray Squirrel Fairfax Inn CA 2018-09-16 13-41…
2018Eastern Gray Squirrel Fairfax Inn CA 2018-09-16 13-40…
2015A sign for the Fairfax branch of the Marin County Lib…
2013Usnea intermedia 301183
2013Usnea intermedia 301182
2013Usnea intermedia 301181
2013Hypomyces cervinigenus 301131
2013Hypomyces cervinigenus 301130
2013Hypomyces cervinigenus 301129
2010Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
2010Oatmeal Stout
2010Fairfax welcome sign
2009Bending left yellow lines
2008DowntownFairfaxCAShot1
2000Fairfax, CA libraryFire 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.
1919Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Fairfax’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 2,198 and 7,661 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairfax’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Fairfax’s post office has been open since 1910. Another post office, Manor, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Fairfax post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Fairfax is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #237 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.
37% of Fairfax’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (18), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
