Founding year: the first Meadow Vista post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Meadow Vista’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Meadow Vista is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #646 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Meadow Vista’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 Meadow Vista’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 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 Meadow Vista’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Meadow Vista yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Meadow Vista is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 3,263 at the 2020 census, up from 3,217 at the 2010 census.
Its first post office opened in 1952. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,217 in 2010, 3,263 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Meadow Vista’s post office has been open since 1952.
Gone or out of use
Combie Crossingcrossing
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Meadow Vista’s history
What year was Meadow Vista founded?
The Meadow Vista post office opened in 1952, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Meadow Vista rank for history?
Meadow Vista is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #646 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 Meadow Vista?
6% of Meadow Vista’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (1), 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.
2015
