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C−History
History · Kentfield

Kentfield’s post office opened in 1905, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #456 of 847 in California. What drives it

Below: maps from 1897 on and the census since 1990.

1905first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Kentfield began

When was Kentfield founded?

1905

The Kentfield post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Tamalpais (1906), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 6,030 in 19902020 census: 6,808121 years

How historic is Kentfield?

C−

More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Kentfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Kentfield’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kentfield is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #456 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kentfield’s overall grade.
Founding era1905, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194012.2% of homes (±4.9) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 21%
NewerOlder
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 46%

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 Kentfield’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 is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 points). 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 Kentfield’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Kentfield are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18976 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1993. Watch Kentfield change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Kentfield, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Kentfield’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kentfield’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Kentfield on the map, 1897 to 1993

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

Kentfield on the 1897 USGS mapKentfield on the 1941 USGS mapKentfield on the 1954 USGS mapKentfield on the 1968 USGS mapKentfield on the 1980 USGS mapKentfield on the 1993 USGS map1897Tamalpais 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 Kentfield.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Kentfield had its own post office from 1905 to 1952. Another post office, Tamalpais, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kentfield
1905–1952
Tamalpais
1906–1929
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GreenbraeKent WoodlandsMurray Park
Gone or out of use
Ross General Hospitalhospital

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

The story

How Kentfield came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kentfield.

Read it all →

In 1857, James Ross (1812–1862) bought Rancho Punta de Quentin. Ross, a Scot who had arrived in San Francisco from Australia in 1848 and made his fortune in the wholesale liquor business, set up a trading post called "Ross Landing". Steamers would come up Corte Madera Creek to the landing there. Albert Emmett Kent bought the land from the Ross estate in 1871. Kent built an estate called Tamalpais, later applied to the nearby railroad station. His son, William Kent, was a US Congressman, philanthropist and founder of Muir Woods.

The name of the railroad station was changed to Kent in the 1890s, and finally to Kentfield with the opening of the first post office in 1905.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kentfield, 1897 to 1989

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Kentfield post office opens
  5. 1906Post officeThe Tamalpais post office opens
  6. 1929Post officeThe Tamalpais post office closes
  7. 1952Post officeThe Kentfield post office closes
  8. 1955Born hereCole Swensen is born here
  9. 1963Born hereTodd McKee is born here
  10. 1968Born herePeter Woodring is born here
  11. 1989Born hereCooper Helfet is born here
By decade

Kentfield, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Greenbrae, Vereinigte Staaten Jul 20, 2025 10-26-51 AM2025Greenbrae, Vereinigte Staaten Jul 20, 2025 10-26-51 AMMarin Catholic High School2014Marin Catholic High SchoolPoint Reyes 0132008Point Reyes 013Marin General2008Marin GeneralMarin 0262008Marin 026Bon air world greenbrae2007Bon air world greenbrae
People over time

Kentfield, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,0007,50020002020Peak: 6,808

Between 6,030 and 6,808 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Kentfield

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
P
Peter WoodringAmerican soccer player · b. 1968
T
Todd McKeeAmerican actor · b. 1963
Cole SwensenPoet, translator, editor, professor · b. 1955
Cooper HelfetAmerican football player · b. 1989
Brian McCallAmerican baseball player · b. 1943
A
Adaline KentAmerican sculptor · b. 1900
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Larkspur4 historic placesBRoss1 historic placeASan Rafael8 historic placesA−Mill Valley4 historic placesA−

Questions about Kentfield’s history

What year was Kentfield founded?

The Kentfield post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Kentfield rank for history?

Kentfield is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #456 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 Kentfield?

12% of Kentfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1956.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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) 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.