Founding year: the first Lynwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lynwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lynwood is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #201 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 Lynwood’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 Lynwood’s 0.2 sits near the middle of its state (64% 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 (±2.1 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 Lynwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Spanish aristocrats, or dons, and American pioneers purchased, settled, and formed a small communal town in the area. In 1810, Don Antonio Maria Lugo was awarded 11 square leagues of land in California by the king of Spain for his military service during the establishment of the Francisco missions in the state. After Lugo received these tracts of land (29,514 acres), Lugo named the area Rancho San Antonio, possibly after birthplace at La Misión San Antonio de Padua, in Jolon, California. These tracts of land make up the bordering cities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, South Gate, Vernon, and Walnut Park today.
The Lynwood post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lynwood rank for history?
Lynwood is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #201 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 Lynwood?
One place: the Lynwood Pacific Electric Railway Depot (listed 1974).
How old are the homes in Lynwood?
19% of Lynwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
Date?
2007