The story so far
Hoopa, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hoopa yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1895.
CHistory
History · Hoopa
Hoopa’s post office opened in 1895, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Hoopa was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Its Register listing is the Hoopa Valley Adobe. Below: maps from 1952 on and old-book passages.
1895first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Hoopa began
When was Hoopa founded?
1895
The Hoopa post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hoopa Valley (1861) and Hupa (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 3,167131 years
How historic is Hoopa?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hoopa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hoopa’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hoopa is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hoopa’s overall grade.
Founding era1895, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±1.6) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%D−National Register1 listing, 4.5 per 10,000 residents · typical CA town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder
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 Hoopa’s 4.5 sits above most of its state (87% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 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 Hoopa’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Hoopa’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hoopa’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Hoopa’s post office has been open since 1895. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hoopa Valley
Hoopa
Hupa
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Campbell Creek Guard Stationlocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Hoopa, 1881–1915
Passages that mention Hoopa, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present1915Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. Kendal entered the Indian school service at Hoopa reservation in 1893. Since that time he has resided continuously in Humboldt county, and has taught in the public schools the greater part of the time since the termination of his work at Hoopa. During his active teaching service in this county he served four years on the County Board of Education. Mr. Kendal became city librarian in December, 1911, and has since given his time and attention unremittingly to this important position.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Humboldt County, California1915 · page 438Read the page →
Read the text
line he has ever since followed — during a period of forty years there have been only thirty days that he has not been deriving an income from the mercantile business. His first position of the kind was as clerk in the store of A. Brizard, at Hoopa, Humboldt county, and since 1897 he has had his own establishment at Eureka, which he acquired that year under the name of the Humboldt Commission Company. In 1906 the business was incorporated under the laws of the state of California as the Humboldt Commercial Company, under which title it has since been carried on; the officers have
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Humboldt County, California1915 · page 747Read the page →
Read the text
Col. S. G. Whipple during the Indian wars of 1863, 1864 and 1865, stationed at Fort Gaston, on the Hoopa Reservation. Resuming his professional duties in Eureka at the close of the war. Dr. Clark continued in active practice until 1870, when he retired, his large real estate holdings and his other business affairs demanding his entire time and attention. In 1872 he laid out Clark's addition to Eureka, which consists of twenty-four blocks in one of the finest residence parts of the city, selling much cheaper to homeseekers and actual settlers than to speculators. As
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Humboldt County, California1881 · page 209Read the page →
Read the text
was placed in charge of a man named Blackbui n. and was usually known as Blackburn's Ferry. H. W, Lake, in 1861, constructed a wooden bridge across the Trinity, Deal the hotel in Hoopa Valley. It was fourteen feet wide and considered a substantial structure. John F. Martin put up a wire suspension bridge across the Klamath in 1861, three miles belovi Weitchpeck, at a cost of about §4,000. Length of span in clear, 298 feet, width, eight feet, height above water, ninety-
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
Hoopa, 1861 to 1952
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1861Post officeThe Hoopa Valley post office opens
- 1895Post officeThe Hoopa Valley post office closes
- 1895Post officeThe Hoopa post office opens
- 20th century
- 1900Post officeThe Hupa post office opens
- 1902Post officeThe Hupa post office closes
- 1952
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Hoopa on the map, 1952 to 1997
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hoopa. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Hoopa sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hoopa.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Hoopa
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2013
Hoopa Valley Adobe
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Hoopa’s history
What year was Hoopa founded?
The Hoopa post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hoopa rank for history?
Hoopa is more historic than 29% 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.
What is on the National Register in Hoopa?
One place: the Hoopa Valley Adobe (listed 2013).
How old are the homes in Hoopa?
0.0% of Hoopa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1989.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.