Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #325 of 847 in California. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1990.
The French Camp post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, French Camp is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #325 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 French Camp’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 French Camp’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of French Camp. 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 French Camp.
From Wikipedia’s history of French Camp.
French Camp was the southernmost regular camp site of the Hudson's Bay Company southern fur brigades sent from Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington), established by Michel Laframboise in 1832. Its Spanish name was preserved in a land grant dated January 13, 1844 as Rancho Campo de los Franceses. It is commemorated as California State Historic Landmark 668:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention French Camp, cut from the printed page as they were published.
French Camp One of the oldest of these towns is the historic village of French Camp. We remember that the Hudson Bay Company had their trappers at that point in 1837, and that in 1844, Benjamin Kelsey and his family located for a season. After the discovery of gold and the founding of Stockton, it became quite a trad-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the first, was the bridge across Mormon Channel. It was built by the merchants as a business proposition in their trade with the mountain camps by the way of French Camp. They came before the council of 1853 and petitioned them to reimburse them for the money paid out. The council refused, as the city had paid half of the cost. In March, '53, a contract was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
perience, one which has been of untold value to him since his assumption of the duties of superintendent of the County Hospital, located in the village of French Camp. Dr. Dameron is the descendant of southern antecedents, and was himself born in one of the bordering southern states, his birth occurring in Chariton county, Mo., in 1867, the son of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ing christened after it came intathe possession of a civilized race, has a name of English origin. When the settlement was first started, it was called and known everywhere as "Weber's settlement, or as French Camp, the latter name being best known. Captain Weber and his partner were undecided about the name which the new settlement should have. New Albany was the choice of the jsartner, because of his birth in Albany, New York. Captain Weber,
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGENERAL VIEW. From the V. Covert Martin Collection, Stockton, California - Colonel Noble …
Born hereJose M. Hernandez is born here
Born hereScott Brooks is born here
Born hereJustina Ireland is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 French Camp’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 3,018 and 4,109 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on French Camp’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The French Camp post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
French Camp is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #325 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.
12% of French Camp’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), 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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