Most of Knights Landing was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and old-book passages.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Knights Landing’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Knights Landing is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Knights Landing’s 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 Knights Landing’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1843.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.2 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Knights Landing’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Knights Landing on the map, 1910 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Knights Landing. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1910Knights Landing 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 Knights Landing.
Knights Landing was founded in 1843 by Dr. William Knight, a practicing physician from Baltimore, Maryland. Knight built on a mound that marked the ancient meeting place of Native Americans inhabiting the regions about Cache Creek and the Sacramento River. The site early demonstrated its importance as a steamboat landing and point of communication between the people east and west of the big central river. When the town was laid out in 1849, it was originally called Baltimore, but an agreement over the sale of the new town lots could not be amicably arranged, and the title Baltimore was lost. Knight established a ferry there, which afterwards passed to the ownership of J. W. Snowball. In those days, the ferry tolls were $1 for a man and horse; a team and wagon cost $5. In 1850, S. R. Smith kept a hotel in the settlement and in 1853, Charles F. Reed surveyed and laid out a townsite and wa…
Passages that mention Knights Landing, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Yolo 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 present1913 · page 85Read the page →
Read the text
that its chances as a great commercial center had passed with the disappearance of the sand-bars in the rivers, the residents contrived to make it at least a center for local retail trade, but in the meantime the settlements of Knights Landing and Washington, the latter situated on the Yolo side of the river opposite Sacramento, began to attract attention, and perhaps because of their closer proximity to the then populated district of the county (the people having resumed the pursuit of stock-raising in the interior)
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Yolo 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 present1913 · page 86Read the page →
Read the text
And thus endeth the history of Fremont. At this late day many people of Knights Landing and Woodland are wont in pleasant weather to visit the site of the first town of Yolo county for the purpose of outing and fishing. There is nothing there now other than those things furnished by nature for the adornment of mother earth. Where was once a lively town, there is now only the placid bosom of the mighty river wending its way leisurely between banks studded with tree and vine to the ocean. Where once prevailed
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
Knights Landing, 1843 to 1925
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Knights Landing’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, Grafton, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Grafton
1854–1925
Knights Landing
1892–today
18501940today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Knights Landing’s history
What year was Knights Landing founded?
In 1843, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Knights Landing’s post office opened in 1854.
How does Knights Landing rank for history?
Knights Landing is more historic than 45% 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.
How old are the homes in Knights Landing?
7% of Knights Landing’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (14), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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