Founding year: the first Forest Ranch post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Forest Ranch’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Forest Ranch is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Forest Ranch’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 Forest Ranch’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 range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.0 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Forest Ranch’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Forest Ranch post office was opened in 1878, closed in 1926, and re-established in 1932, and moved several times in 1938 to its present location. The town once was the site of a lumber mill, established around 1873 and operated by Elias Findley. In the mid-1870s, Findley's residence was taken over by a Mr. and Mrs. Weld, who provided accommodations for teams and travelers on the Humboldt Wagon Road. In the 1890s, Forest Ranch had an active literary society and its school hosted regular performances and athletic events for the general community. The town is now mostly a bedroom community for nearby Chico.
Forest Ranch’s post office has been open since 1878.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dodge Place
1cemetery inside Forest Ranch
Forest Ranch
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Forest Ranch’s history
What year was Forest Ranch founded?
The Forest Ranch post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Forest Ranch rank for history?
Forest Ranch 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 Forest Ranch?
0.0% of Forest Ranch’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1989.
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, 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.
