Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #126 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Pajaro was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1955 on.
The Pajaro post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pajaro is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #126 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 Pajaro’s 13.8 sits above most of its state (93% of California towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Pajaro’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pajaro.
The Pajaro post office operated from 1872 to 1873 and from 1882 to 1888.
The Porter–Vallejo Mansion was constructed in the 1840s. As the oldest building in the community, it has been remodeled multiple times. It was acquired in 1991 and converted into a public library/senior citizen center. It also houses a day-care facility for the children of migrant farm workers.
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.
In the archiveJames Waters
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pajaro. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pajaro.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pajaro’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Pajaro itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Pajaro had its own post office from 1872 to 1888.
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 Pajaro post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pajaro is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #126 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 Porter-Vallejo Mansion (listed 1990).
8% of Pajaro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (5), 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.
1892
1892
2007
2006
