More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #602 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Midway City was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1896 on.
Founding year: the first Midway City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Midway City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Midway City is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #602 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 Midway City’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 Midway City’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 (±4.2 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 Midway City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Two miles directly to the east of Midway City was the now-defunct Town of Bolsa, which was established in 1870. Midway City's northernmost boundary, Hazard Avenue, is named after the great-grandparents of Clyde Hazard: early American pioneers Robert Samuel and Betsy Ann (née White) Hazard, who moved from Hitchcock County, Nebraska with their children to the Westminster district in August 1881 and subsequently purchased forty acres northwest of the Town of Bolsa on February 6, 1882. Ann was a direct descendant of the White family, who, in 1620, sailed from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower. In 1891, Midway City received its post office from Bolsa. In 1915, one of the top United States poultry judges, W. M. Wise, moved from Michigan to perform breeding and service work for Pacific Southwest Poultry Farm in Midway City. Seven years later, Midway City began to take shape i…
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 Midway City post office opened in 1929, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Midway City rank for history?
Midway City is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #602 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 Midway City?
6% of Midway City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (9), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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1928
1965
2012
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2012