More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #383 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Keyes was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Keyes post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Keyes’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Keyes is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #383 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Keyes’ 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 Keyes’ 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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 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 Keyes’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Keyes. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1916Ceres sheet · 1:31,680
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Keyes.
The story so far
Keyes, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Keyes yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Keyes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 5,672 at the 2020 census, up from 5,601 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1886. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 5,601 in 2010, 5,672 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Keyes in 1921
Passages that mention Keyes, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stanislaus County California1921 · page 619Read the page →
Read the text
lie helped to build that rapidly growing town. Selling his property there in 1914, he purchased twenty acres one and one-fourth miles southwest of Keyes, on the Service Road, and here he is now engaged successfully in diversified farming. He belongs to the Educational Cooperative Union of America, the Keyes local.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Stanislaus County California1921 · page 1156Read the page →
Read the text
town ; but on account of ill-health he was forced to get out into the open. He sold out, therefore, in 1909, and next became foreman for F. E. Robertson on his dairy farm at Denair. In 1912 he took entire charge of the Turlock Shipping Company's activities at Keyes, that company holding a five-year lease on the holding of H. M. Hatch at Keyes; he had charge of the seeding, growing and harvesting of the entire crop of melons and sweet potatoes for the entire five years, and it need hardly be said that he had plenty to do. Since then Mr. Foster has engaged for himself in the brokerage of melons, other fruit and sweet potatoes, having established his present business in
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.
The Keyes post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Keyes rank for history?
Keyes is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #383 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 Keyes?
7% of Keyes’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (5), 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 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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