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KeelerCaliforniaTrainDepotPhoto: User:Daveblack · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Keeler

Keeler’s post office opened in 1883, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 2000.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Keeler’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Keeler began

When was Keeler founded?

1883

The Keeler post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 66 in 20002020 census: 71143 years
Founding year: the first Keeler post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Keeler’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Keeler’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSodaWorksAtKeeler: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Keeler came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Keeler.

Read it all →

When the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake rendered the pier in nearby Swansea inaccessible by uplifting the shoreline, a new pier was constructed to the south at a community named Hawley. In 1880 a new mill was constructed at Hawley by the Owens Lake Mining and Milling Company for processing silver ore from the Cerro Gordo Mines in the mountains to the east. A town was laid out by the company agent Julius M. Keeler, for whom the town of Hawley was later renamed.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Keeler, 1883 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Keeler post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901In the archiveSodaWorksAtKeeler
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Keeler, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
SodaWorksAtKeeler1901SodaWorksAtKeeler
1910s–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
Date unknown2 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey Wells Fargo Collection - Main Street (Commercial Buildings)Date?Historic American Buildings Survey Wells Fargo Collec…Main Street (Commercial Buildings)Date?Main Street (Commercial Buildings)
Today4 recent
Olivine basalt (Pleistocene; lava flow near2015Olivine basalt (Pleistocene; lava flow nearKeeler, California2013Keeler, CaliforniaKeeler en Owens Lake 8-10-2012 12-35-452012Keeler en Owens Lake 8-10-2012 12-35-45KeelerCaliforniaTrainDepot2006KeelerCaliforniaTrainDepot
On the map

Keeler on the map in 1951

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Keeler.

Keeler on the 1951 USGS map1951Keeler 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 Keeler.

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.

SodaWorksAtKeeler
Retake this viewSodaWorksAtKeeler, 1901

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Keeler, census by census

020002020Peak: 71

Between 66 and 71 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Keeler’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Keeler

Nobody well known was born in Keeler itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John K. SinglaubUS military officer · b. 1921
Walter McCall Hoover, Jr.American rower · b. 1934

Questions about Keeler’s history

What year was Keeler founded?

The Keeler post office opened in 1883, 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 (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.