Lodi’s post office opened in 1873, and 4 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #143 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Lodi was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1880.
The Lodi post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mokelumne (1869), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 606 in 18802020 census: 66,348153 years
How historic is Lodi?
B−
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Lodi post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lodi’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lodi is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #143 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lodi’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 Lodi’s 0.6 sits above most of its state (72% of California towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±1.5 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 Lodi’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Lodi’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Mokelumne, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Mokelumne
1869–1873
Lodi
1873–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East SideGuildLodi JunctionPearsonPope
Gone or out of use
Community HospitalhospitalHilborn Seventh Day Adventist Churchchurch
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Lodi, building by building, 1884–1916
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.
When a group of local families decided to establish a school in 1859, they settled on a site near present-day Cherokee Lane and Turner Road. In 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad was in the process of creating a new route, and settlers Ezekiel Lawrence, Reuben Wardrobe, A. C. Ayers, and John Magley offered a townsite of 160 acres (0.65 km2) to the railroad as an incentive to build a station there. The railroad received a "railroad reserve" of 12 acres (49,000 m2) in the middle of town, and surveyors began laying out streets in the area between Washington to Church and Locust to Walnut. Settlers flocked from nearby Woodbridge, Liberty City, and Galt including town founders John M. Burt and Dan Crist.
Passages that mention Lodi, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Stockton from its organization up to the present time, including a sketch of San Joaquin County1880 · page 15Read the page →
Read the text
mento, hotels, stores, stables, etc., were established to meet the wants of the surrounding country. Woodbridge continued to grow iintil 1869, when the railroad company founded the town of Lodi and forever ruined the future of Woodbridge, When Dr. Locke arrived in San Francisco, he found Mr. Woods as eager to oppose the navigation of the Mokelumne river above Woodbridge as he was in favor
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of San Joaquin County, California1923 · page 1023Read the page →
Read the text
Layman in time came to own what is now most of the western part of the city of Lodi, including 240 acres lying west of what is now the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks and north of Lodi Avenue and the Sargent road. However, in 1867, he sold his entire holdings to Allen Ayers for $6.50 an acre. He then removed to Merced County, and later to Lake County, but finally came back to Lodi, where he
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of San Joaquin County, California1923 · page 1363Read the page →
Read the text
6, I. O. O. F., of Stockton, and the Lodi Lodge No. 41, Knights of Pythias, and is a prominent member and a director in the Lodi Lions Club. He is president of the Methodist Men's Club of Lodi, also a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lodi, and was the chairman of the building committee when, in 1919, their large and beautiful church edifice was built on the corner of Church and Oak
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
Lodi, 1869 to 1985
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.
The Lodi post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lodi rank for history?
Lodi is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #143 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 Lodi?
4 listings: 3 buildings and 1 structure.
How old are the homes in Lodi?
10% of Lodi’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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), 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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