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History · Jacumba

Jacumba’s post office opened in 1915

Most of Jacumba was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1953. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1939 on.

1915first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Jacumba’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Jacumba began

When was Jacumba founded?

1915

The Jacumba post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 540111 years
Founding year: the first Jacumba post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Jacumba’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Jacumba’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Jacumba’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jacumba’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMountainSpringsgrade1920: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Jacumba came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Jacumba.

Read it all →

The Kumeyaay peoples occupied the Jacumba area prior to European settlement. They were likely attracted by the warm Jacumba hot spring (temperature 104 °F [40 °C]), one of many mineral hot springs which occur up and down the Peninsular Ranges of California. Ranchers occupied the area in the 19th century and were often in conflict with the indigenous population. Fifteen Kumeyaay and one White died in an event connected to alleged cattle rustling during the Jacumba Massacre of February 27, 1880.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Jacumba, 1915 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1915Post officeThe Jacumba post office opens
  3. 1920In the archiveMountainSpringsgrade1920
  4. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1940In the archiveJacumba Hot Springs 1940s
By decade

Jacumba, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1940s2 items
MountainSpringsgrade19201920MountainSpringsgrade1920Jacumba Hot Springs 1940s1940Jacumba Hot Springs 1940s
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today10 recent
South end of tunnel 12018South end of tunnel 1Abandoned double deck passenger car exterior2018Abandoned double deck passenger car exteriorHotel Vaughn Fireplace2017Hotel Vaughn FireplaceSmell that2016Smell thatJacumba open2015Jacumba openTracks - panoramio (6)2013Tracks - panoramio (6)Boulder In The Desert Outside San Diego2010Boulder In The Desert Outside San DiegoJacumbaAirport12009JacumbaAirport1Jacumba California2009Jacumba CaliforniaOld Trains2007Old Trains
On the map

Jacumba on the map, 1939 to 1959

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jacumba. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Jacumba on the 1939 USGS mapJacumba on the 1942 USGS mapJacumba on the 1959 USGS map1939Jacumba sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jacumba.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

MountainSpringsgrade1920
Retake this viewMountainSpringsgrade1920, 1920

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Jacumba’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Old corners

Jacumba’s post office has been open since 1915.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Jacumba Hot SpringsTitus

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Jacumba’s history

What year was Jacumba founded?

The Jacumba post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), 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.