Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #165 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Porterville was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Its Register listings are the US Post Office-Porterville Main, the Zalud House and the First Congregational Church. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1880.
Porterville dates its founding to 1864 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Porterville is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #165 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Porterville’s 0.8 sits above most of its state (74% of California towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1910Wool shipment in Tulare County, California, ca.1910 (…
1914Main & Mill Streets
1936Home of a family of native Californians, migratory wo…
1936Awaiting the opening of orange picking season. Migran…
19361936 drought refugee from Polk, Missouri. Awaiting th…
19361936 drought refugee from Polk, Missouri. Awaiting th…
19361936 drought refugee from Polk, Missouri. Awaiting th…
1936Part of migrant family of five, encamped near Porterv…
1936Part of migrant family of five encamped near Portervi…
1936Mother of family of migrant fruit workers encamped on…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Part of migrant …
1938Squatter camp on the flat where families live during …Porterville’s post office has been open since 1915. Another post office, Portersville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1891Sheet 2 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Porterville.
During California's Spanish period, the San Joaquin Valley was considered a remote region of little value. Emigrants skirted the eastern foothills in the vicinity of Porterville as early as 1826. Swamps stretched out into the Valley floor lush with tall rushes or "tulare" as the Indigenous people called them.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Porterville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
he went and took the post-office with him. He died shortly and left the post-office in Porterville. That left the south side with¬ out any post-office; the river at that time in the winter was almost impassable from quicksand, and no bridge was then built.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Porterville is situated on Tule River just as it leaves the foot-hills twenty-three miles southeast of Tulare City, and thirty miles from Visalia. It has a hotel, a church, two drug stores, two blacksmith shops, four general merchandise stores, a good school house with two departments, two livery stables and a first-class grist-mill run by water power.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveWool shipment in Tulare County, California, ca.1910 (CHS-5174)
Born hereJoan Marsh is born here
Born hereBarbara Baxley is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveHome of a family of native Californians, migratory workers. Near Porterville, California
In the archiveHammond's Studio - North on Main St. at Cleveland
Born hereRick Owens is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Porterville. 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 Porterville.
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 Porterville’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.
Grew from 202 people in 1880 to 62,623 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Porterville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1864, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Porterville’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 202 people here.
Porterville is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #165 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.
Three places: the US Post Office-Porterville Main (listed 1985), the Zalud House (1987) and the First Congregational Church (1999).
7% of Porterville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (16), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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