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History · Rail Road Flat

Rail Road Flat dates to 1849

Most of Rail Road Flat was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 2000.

1849founded
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rail Road Flat began

When was Rail Road Flat founded?

1849

Rail Road Flat dates its founding to 1849 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 2000.

First census: 549 in 20002020 census: 316177 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1857.The full story ↓

What stands out about Rail Road Flat’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 Rail Road Flat are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1849: 177 years of Rail Road Flat.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rail Road Flat’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rail Road Flat’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Rail Road Flat, 1849 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849
    FoundingRail Road Flat is established
  3. 1857Post officeThe Railroad Flat post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Rail Road Flat came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rail Road Flat.

Read it all →

This historic mining town, elevation 2,600 feet (788 m), was named after primitive mule-drawn ore cars used here. There was never actually a railroad here. The town was established in 1849. It was the site of an Indian council as well as the center of rich placer and quartz mining. Its largest producer was the Petticoat Mine. The post office was established in 1857, closed in 1858, and re-established in 1869 and the Edwin Taylor store built in 1867. The town's population was decimated in 1880 by black fever.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.
Add from your album
On the map

Rail Road Flat on the map in 1948

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rail Road Flat.

Rail Road Flat on the 1948 USGS map1948Rail Road Flat sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rail Road Flat.

People over time

Rail Road Flat, census by census

010020030040050060020002020Peak: 549

Between 316 and 549 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rail Road Flat’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rail Road Flat

Nobody well known was born in Rail Road Flat itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Robert Grant AitkenAmerican astronomer · b. 1864
E
Ernest GalloAmerican businessman · b. 1909
T
Tam O'ShaughnessyAmerican educator, children's science writer, p… · b. 1952
Angelo Joseph RossiAmerican mayor · b. 1878
David HodoAmerican singer · b. 1947
Anthony CaminettiAmerican politician · b. 1854
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Independence
Gone or out of use
Jeff Davis Minemine
1cemetery inside Rail Road Flat
Independence

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.

GlencoeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWilseyvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Rail Road Flat’s history

What year was Rail Road Flat founded?

In 1849, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Rail Road Flat’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 2000 counted 549 people here.

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.