Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #176 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Gilroy was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Gilroy post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1870.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gilroy is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #176 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Gilroy’s 1.5 sits above most of its state (79% of California towns have fewer) while its 9 listings outnumber those of 75% 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.
Drag across each photo to compare.
1908TodayThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire 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 year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gilroy.
Spanish explorers led by Juan Bautista de Anza first passed through the Santa Clara Valley area in 1776. More than 20 years later, Spanish missionaries established Mission San Juan Bautista in 1797 near the Pajaro River. In 1809, Ygnacio Ortega was granted the 13,066-acre (5,288 ha) Spanish land concession Rancho San Ysidro.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Gilroy, cut from the printed page as they were published.
He opened the new station at Naples, and then for two years served as assistant agent at Gilroy. In 1902 he was given the agency at Morgan Hill, and he has discharged the duties there all these intervening years wdth exceptional satisfaction to the public.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the present town of Visalia. Thence, by every point of the compass, hunting for game, and at length reached Sobrianos, on the Salinas, near the Mission of Soledad. In the month of December, 1843, Mr. Martin and his party arrived safely at San Ysidro (Old Gilroy). Here he remained until 1850, when he moved to his present residence, about a mile from the new town of Gilroy, wdiere he has since resided. Some twenty years ago he was deprived of his sight. Here let us lepeat the picture of this worthy man, which, though drawn seventeen years ago, is still a faithful portrait: "Never
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
fogs drop their refreshing moisture pleasantly, having lost their rawness in their mountain climbing. The swelterinij heat often encountered at the depot by railroad travelers, who halt for their midday meal, has unjustly given the City of Gilroy a torrid name, but such is only the dictum, of the bird of passage, observation, both barometrical and thermometrical, proving the undoubted salubrity of the township.
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.
BuiltOld City Hall is built
In the archiveLive Oak Creamery postcard back
In the archivePostkarte der Bloomfield-Farm
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJohn Hudson is born hereBuiltWheeler Hospital is built
In the archiveUp the main street of a valley town. Gilroy, California
Born hereJeff Garcia is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gilroy. 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 Gilroy.
Grew from 1,625 people in 1870 to 59,520 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gilroy’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Gilroy’s post office has been open since 1851.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Gilroy post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1870.
Gilroy is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #176 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.
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Old City Hall (listed 1975, the first), and 1 site.
4% of Gilroy’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (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, 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.
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