Most of Piru was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1980.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1888.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Piru’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Piru is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Piru’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 Piru’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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 points). Two sources give 1887.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Piru’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was originally inhabited by the Tataviam, who often established villages along near permanent water sources at lower elevations, including Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River. The Tataviam village of Piiru was the original village of the area. There was also a nearby shared village between the Tataviam and Chumash of Kamulus in the corridor.
Piru Creek was generally known as the place where the Chumash and Tataviam shared the land with one another, being on the respective edges of each of their lands. Important plant foods for the Tataviam included yucca stalks and hearts, acorns, sage seeds, juniper and holly leaf cherry berries. The yucca hearts were collected in the spring each year and roasted in earth ovens.
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.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Piru’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Piru’s history
What year was Piru founded?
In 1887, according to Wikidata. Piru’s post office opened in 1888, and the census of 1980 counted 1,284 people here.
How does Piru rank for history?
Piru is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns. 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 Piru?
7% of Piru’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1996.
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, 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.
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