Lake Arrowhead’s post office opened in 1922, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #299 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Lake Arrowhead was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Shady Point. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1970.
From Lake Arrowhead’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Lake Arrowhead began
When was Lake Arrowhead founded?
1922
The Lake Arrowhead post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Cedar Glen (1914), Little Bear Lake (1917) and Sagital (1922), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,682 in 19702020 census: 12,401104 years
How historic is Lake Arrowhead?
C
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Lake Arrowhead post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lake Arrowhead’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Arrowhead is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #299 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Arrowhead’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 Lake Arrowhead’s 0.9 sits above most of its state (75% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size. 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 Lake Arrowhead’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area now known as Lake Arrowhead was originally called Little Bear Valley. In the late 1800s, developers began damming Little Bear Creek to create a reservoir for irrigation and hydroelectric use. By 1904, the Arrowhead Reservoir Company had taken over the project, but in 1913, a landmark court decision prohibited the diversion of water across watershed boundaries, halting further irrigation plans.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake Arrowhead. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1967Harrison Mtn sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lake Arrowhead.
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.
Retake this viewSportland, Lake Arrowhead's complete amusement center (81858), c. 1930
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lake Arrowhead’s page.
The Lake Arrowhead post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lake Arrowhead rank for history?
Lake Arrowhead is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #299 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.
What is on the National Register in Lake Arrowhead?
One place: the Shady Point (listed 2009).
How old are the homes in Lake Arrowhead?
10% of Lake Arrowhead’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1977.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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