Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #289 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Moss Beach was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: maps from 1978 on.
The Moss Beach post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Moss Beach is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #289 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Moss Beach’s 11.2 sits above most of its state (92% of California towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Moss Beach’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Moss Beach.
Moss Beach began as a resort destination, with its first hotel built in 1881 by Juergen Wienke. It grew with the advent of the Ocean Shore Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltPoint Montara Light Station is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2008Sea grapes, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
2008Camouflaged chiton
2008Anemone, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, CA
2007Moss Beach Shoreline, April 2007
2007Moss Beach Rock
2006Mosslanerazorback
2006Mosslanding
2006Mosserazorback
2006Mossdesterazorback
2006Mosscyperazorback
2006Mossbeach-pan
2006Cryptopleura ruprechtiana Fitzgerald MRThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Moss Beach.
1978San Francisco sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Moss Beach.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Moss Beach itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Moss Beach’s post office has been open since 1910.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Moss Beach post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Moss Beach is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #289 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.
One place: the Point Montara Light Station (listed 1991).
6% of Moss Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1970.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
