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History · Monte Rio

41% of Monte Rio’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1901 on.

0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Monte Rio’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Monte Rio’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Monte Rio’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Monte Rio’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMonte Rio station postcard: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Monte Rio came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Monte Rio.

Read it all →

Starting in the 1870s, Monte Rio was a stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad connecting Cazadero to the Sausalito, California, ferry. Redwood lumber from local sawmills was shipped to build San Francisco. After the sawmills left, the area became known as Vacation Wonderland with trains transporting San Franciscans to summer cabins and even a seven-story hotel downtown. Portions of the 1942 Academy Award-winning film Holiday Inn were filmed at the Village Inn Resort in Monte Rio. The trains no longer run, and the area now is mainly inhabited by year-round residents.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Monte Rio, 1901 to 1921

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901In the archiveMonte Rio station postcard
  3. 1907Post officeThe Grandville post office opens
  4. 1915In the archiveMonte Rio-Motoring Magazine-1915-014
  5. 1921Post officeThe Grandville post office closes
  6. 1921Post officeThe Villa Grande post office opens
By decade

Monte Rio, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s4 items
Monte Rio station postcard1901–1915Monte Rio station postcardPostcardMonte Rio station postcard (2)1907–1915Monte Rio station postcard (2)PostcardBeach on Russian River at Monte Rio, California (1909)1909Beach on Russian River at Monte Rio, California (1909)Monte Rio-Motoring Magazine-1915-0141915Monte Rio-Motoring Magazine-1915-014
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
Today2 recent
Monte Rio 34982009Monte Rio 3498Dutch Bill Creek 34952009Dutch Bill Creek 3495
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.

Monte Rio station postcard
Retake this viewMonte Rio station postcard, 1901–1915

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Monte Rio

Nobody well known was born in Monte Rio itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Rebecca De MornayAmerican actress · b. 1959
Julie LondonAmerican actress and singer · b. 1926
Ariana RichardsAmerican artist · b. 1979
Jussie SmollettAmerican actor · b. 1982
Ralph Waldo RoseAmerican track and field athlete · b. 1885
Hazel Hotchkiss WightmanUS tennis and badminton player · b. 1886
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Grandville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Grandville
1907–1921
Villa Grande
1921–today
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Villa Grande
1cemetery inside Monte Rio
Saint Catherines Catholic

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

Questions about Monte Rio’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.