More historic than 10% of U.S. towns · #685 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Holtville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1910.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1904.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Holtville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Holtville is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #685 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Holtville’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 Holtville’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 (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1903.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Holtville’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.
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.
The city was founded in the 1880s by Swiss-German settlers, many of whom entered from Mexico. The construction of railroads in the 1890s, the All-American Canal in the late 1940s, and U.S. Route 80 in the 1920s (later converted to Interstate 8 in the 1970s) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) economic boom in the 1990s brought more people to Holtville and the Imperial Valley.
Passages that mention Holtville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Imperial County, California1918Read the page →
Read the text
Holtville was named in honor of Mr. W. F. Holt, its promoter. El Centro is Spanish for the center. Brawley got its name for a friend of Mr. Heber in Chicago. Silsbee, on the shore of Blue Lake, was named by a former land owner there. And this was the prevailing method used in the bestowal of names for most of the smaller towns in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Imperial County, California1918Read the page →
Read the text
Holtville was established in 1903, and at its very beginning Dr. Greenleaf located there. He had enjoyed a lucrative practice in Chicago and later at Redlands, but his health had failed him at both places, and he came to Holtville hoping the desert air would give him renewed strength. He was the only doctor east of the Alamo for a number of years. He was never able, however, to give proper attention to his practice on account of his health, and in 1908 Dr. Brooks took up the practice of medicine there, having his office in the Alamo Hotel. It was not
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
Holtville, 1903 to 1951
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1903, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Holtville’s post office opened in 1904, and the census of 1910 counted 729 people here.
How does Holtville rank for history?
Holtville is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #685 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 Holtville?
3% of Holtville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (14), 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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