More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #498 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Farmersville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1926 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Farmersville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1960.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Farmersville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmersville is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #498 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Farmersville’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 Farmersville’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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1960.
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 →
What stands out about Farmersville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founded in 1856, the community was originally called Deep Creek, located near the present-day Deep Creek Cemetery, where headstones date back to the 1850s. Farmersville's first school was built there to accommodate farm children in the area. In the Fly family history, preserved in a book written about their travels to California, there is mention of attending the Deep Creek School in the 1860s, which was located east of the cemetery.
Passages that mention Farmersville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Tulare County, California ... with biographical sketches1883 · page 184Read the page →
Read the text
of horned cattle, 150 sheep, 5 horses, 20 hogs, 35 acres in alfalfa; has 316 acres of land, seven miles from Visalia, same distance from the railroad, and one-fourth of a mile fi’om Farmersville Post-office. A school house is on a corner of the farm, one-fourth of a mile from the house, and church is held in it every Sunday.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Tulare County, California ... with biographical sketches1883 · page 175Read the page →
Read the text
Farmersville is a small hamlet seven miles from Visalia, and twelve miles northeast of Tulare City. There is a large hotel kept by Mr. C. P. Brown, a blacksmith shop belonging to the same gentleman, one store, and several other small build¬ ings, and a large two-story school house. The country around Farmersville is similar to that in the vicinity of Visalia. It is heavily timbered and is very rich. About all of the land is fenced up and most of the farmers have good houses and are
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.
Timeline
Farmersville, 1868 to 1989
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Farmersville post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1960.
How does Farmersville rank for history?
Farmersville is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #498 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.
How old are the homes in Farmersville?
3% of Farmersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (9), 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 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.
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