More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #592 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Paradise was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Paradise post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Paradise’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paradise is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #592 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paradise’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 Paradise’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 (±0.7 points) is firm at this size. 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 Paradise’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first post office was established at Paradise in 1877. It closed for a time in 1911, but was re-established later that year, when the post office at Orloff was closed. Paradise incorporated in 1979. For many years, the Butte County Railroad operated trains along the ridge, serving mines and sawmills.
According to GNIS, the community has been known in the past by four different names or spellings: Leonards Mill, Poverty Ridge, Pair-O-Dice, and Paradice.
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 Paradise post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Paradise rank for history?
Paradise is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #592 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 Paradise?
0.5% of Paradise’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
1949
1950s
1950s
Date?
2024
2018
2011
