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History · Nipinnawasee

Nipinnawasee’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Nipinnawasee was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1953 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Nipinnawasee began

When was Nipinnawasee founded?

1912

The Nipinnawasee post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 434114 years
Founding year: the first Nipinnawasee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Nipinnawasee’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Nipinnawasee are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Nipinnawasee’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Nipinnawasee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Nipinnawasee.

Read it all →

The town was named about 1908 by Edgar B. Landon who brought the name from Michigan, where, according to the Native Americans of his native district, it means "plenty of deer". The name was accepted by the Post Office in 1915.

A post office operated at Nipinnawasee from 1912 to 1961. In July 1961, the Harlow Fire—a 43,000-acre (17,000 ha) wildfire—destroyed much of the town, as well as neighboring Ahwahnee, where two people died. Nipinnawasee "never revived", according to a Madera Tribune report written six years after the fire.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Nipinnawasee, 1912 to 1959

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Nipinnawasee post office opens
  3. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1959Post officeThe Nipinnawasee post office closes
By decade

Nipinnawasee, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Nipinnawasee2025Nipinnawasee
On the map

Nipinnawasee on the map, 1953 to 2004

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

Nipinnawasee on the 1953 USGS mapNipinnawasee on the 1990 USGS mapNipinnawasee on the 2004 USGS map1953Bass Lake 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 Nipinnawasee.

Famous people

Famous people close to Nipinnawasee

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

See all →
J
Jacoby ShaddixAmerican singer, songwriter and rapper · b. 1976
George RadanovichAmerican politician · b. 1955
Logan MankinsAmerican football player · b. 1982
J
Jon LeicesterAmerican baseball player · b. 1979
Jacob DuranAmerican cutman · b. 1951
Jeff KingAmerican dog musher · b. 1956
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Nipinnawasee had its own post office from 1912 to 1959.

Nipinnawasee
1912–1959
19101970today
Gone or out of use
Cunningham Schoolschool

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

AhwahneeIts storyD

Questions about Nipinnawasee’s history

What year was Nipinnawasee founded?

The Nipinnawasee post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 (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.