Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Menifee

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
DHistory
History · Menifee

Menifee’s post office opened in 1887

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #601 of 847 in California. What drives it

Most of Menifee was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1942 on.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
0.3%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Menifee’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Menifee began

When was Menifee founded?

1887

The Menifee post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 2008. Two smaller post offices, Ethanac (1900) and Romoland (1925), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 102,527139 years

How historic is Menifee?

D

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Menifee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 2008.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Menifee’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Menifee is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #601 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Menifee’s overall grade.
Founding era1887, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.3% of homes (±0.3) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 14%
NewerOlder
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 29%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Menifee ranks #372 on History.

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 Menifee’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.

Newer cities are common at Menifee’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 2008.

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 Menifee’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Menifee, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Menifee’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Menifee’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLuther Menifee Wilson: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Menifee had its own post office from 1887 to 1900. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Menifee
1887–1900
Ethanac
1900–1925
Romoland
1925–1963
Sun City
1963–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Menifee LakesQuail ValleyRomolandSun City

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Menifee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Menifee.

Read it all →

The Menifee area is the traditional lands of the Luiseño people, specifically the Pechanga band. In the 18th century, the area fell under Spanish rule and was ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848 as a result of the Mexican–American War.

Farming, which began in the mid-19th century, was concentrated in the Menifee area. Mining began in the early 1880s with the discovery of a significant quartz lode by miner Luther Menifee Wilson, from whom Menifee derived its name. Wilson discovered a gold-bearing quartz ledge near present-day Holland and Murrieta roads in 1883, and filed a claim with the San Diego County Recorder's office for this new "Menifee" mine. At the time, the area was referred to as the Menifee Valley.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Menifee, 1887 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Menifee post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveLuther Menifee Wilson
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900Post officeThe Menifee post office closes
  6. 1900Post officeThe Ethanac post office opens
  7. 1913In the archiveThe Newport Family
  8. 1925Post officeThe Ethanac post office closes
  9. 1925Post officeThe Romoland post office opens
  10. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1963Post officeThe Romoland post office closes
By decade

Menifee, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1910s2 items
Luther Menifee Wilsonc. 1890Luther Menifee WilsonThe Newport Family1913The Newport Family
1920s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today22 recent
Keller Road - French Valley, Menifee, etc. 12024Keller Road - French Valley, Menifee, etc. 1Heritage Lake Sports Park with Double Butte Mountain in Background2024Heritage Lake Sports Park with Double Butte Mountain …Double Butte view from2024Double Butte view fromBell Mountain - Riverside County2024Bell Mountain - Riverside CountyMSJC Menifee campus2022MSJC Menifee campusCentral Park2022Central ParkMenifee Countryside Marketplace2020Menifee Countryside MarketplaceMenifee Countryside Marketplace Original2020Menifee Countryside Marketplace OriginalSan jacinto 3 from2019San jacinto 3 fromSan jacinto 3 from menifee (cropped)2019San jacinto 3 from menifee (cropped)San jacinto 1 from sun city2019San jacinto 1 from sun cityMenifee salt creek 5 west view2019Menifee salt creek 5 west viewMenifee salt creek 3 waterfowl2019Menifee salt creek 3 waterfowlMenifee fertility rocks 12019Menifee fertility rocks 1Menifee eagle rock 4 with mirror cloud2019Menifee eagle rock 4 with mirror cloudMenifee eagle rock 12019Menifee eagle rock 1Menifee broken egg rock 12019Menifee broken egg rock 1Cherry hills golf 3 17th2019Cherry hills golf 3 17thCherry hills golf 1 pond 18th 22019Cherry hills golf 1 pond 18th 2Baldy gorgonio jacinto 1b2019Baldy gorgonio jacinto 1bInland Empire Energy Center2015Inland Empire Energy CenterMenifee Labyrinth2010Menifee Labyrinth
On the map

Menifee on the map, 1942 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Menifee. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Menifee on the 1942 USGS mapMenifee on the 1953 USGS mapMenifee on the 1973 USGS map1942Murrieta sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Menifee.

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.

Luther Menifee Wilson
Retake this viewLuther Menifee Wilson, c. 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Menifee’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Perris2 historic placesCCanyon LakeIts storyD−Lake Elsinore2 historic placesC−WildomarIts storyC−MurrietaIts storyDRomolandIts storyD

Questions about Menifee’s history

What year was Menifee founded?

The Menifee post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2008.

How does Menifee rank for history?

Menifee is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #601 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 Menifee?

0.3% of Menifee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 2001.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (24), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.