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History · Point Reyes Station

Point Reyes Station’s post office opened in 1891, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 2000.

1891first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
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Photo: User:Jiang · Public domain
Quick answers

How Point Reyes Station began

When was Point Reyes Station founded?

1891

The Point Reyes Station post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Point Reyes (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 818 in 20002020 census: 895135 years
Founding year: the first Point Reyes Station post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Point Reyes Station’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 Point Reyes Station are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19163 editions of the USGS map, 1916 to 1971. Watch Point Reyes Station change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Point Reyes Station’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Point Reyes Station’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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On the map

Point Reyes Station on the map, 1916 to 1971

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

Point Reyes Station on the 1916 USGS mapPoint Reyes Station on the 1954 USGS mapPoint Reyes Station on the 1971 USGS map1916Point Reyes 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 Point Reyes Station.

The story

How Point Reyes Station came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Point Reyes Station.

Read it all →

Once land of the Coast Miwok Indians, Point Reyes Station gets its name from the nearby Point Reyes Peninsula (a major peninsula sticking out into the Pacific Ocean) and its status as a terminus stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad connecting Cazadero to the Sausalito ferry.

Point Reyes Station is very close to the San Andreas Fault, which was responsible for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. At one time, the epicenter of the quake was thought to be near Olema. A walking tour of the fault can be taken from the Point Reyes National Seashore's Visitor Center.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Point Reyes Station, 1882 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Point Reyes post office opens
  3. 1891Post officeThe Point Reyes Station post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1916On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1948Post officeThe Point Reyes post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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People over time

Point Reyes Station, census by census

02004006008001,00020002020Peak: 895

Between 818 and 895 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Point Reyes Station’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Point Reyes Station’s post office has been open since 1891. Another post office, Point Reyes, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Point Reyes
1882–1948
Point Reyes Station
1891–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Point Reyes 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.

Inverness1 historic placeB+

Questions about Point Reyes Station’s history

What year was Point Reyes Station founded?

The Point Reyes Station post office opened in 1891, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 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.