Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #265 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of San Ramon was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 17 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1880.
The San Ramon post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1983. Another post office, San Ramoon (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, San Ramon is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #265 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 San Ramon’s 2.0 sits above most of its state (80% of California towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how San Ramon’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of San Ramon. 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 San Ramon.
From Wikipedia’s history of San Ramon.
The land occupied by the City of San Ramon was once inhabited by Seunen people, an Ohlone/Costanoan group who built their homes near creeks. Sometime around 1797, they were taken by Mission San José for use as grazing land. In 1834, they were part of the Rancho San Ramon land grant to José María Amador.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention San Ramon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1855, Mr. Glass disposed of his stock to Henry Hoffman, who transferred it to, and opened a store at the place where the village of Alamo has since been built. In this year, too, on the same property, Mr. Glass planted the first orchard in San Ramon valley, the trees having been obtained from Oregon, while, to this year, is the honor of building the first house in the village of San Ramon, which was constructed by John White, and is now the residence of George McCamley. It may be remembered that one William Slasher occupied a cabin near the Walnut Creek House ; in 1852 we
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
meeting was held at Walnut Creek, when the substantial interests of the county were well represented, and much interest manifested in the proposed undertaking of providing railroad communication for the interior of the county; and in November the new school-house at San Ramon was completed. In 1868 we have nothing to record; but on April 30, 1869, there died, at his residence near Alamo, John M. Jones, who had lived in the vicinity about sixteen years. His burial took place under direction of the Masonic Order, on May 1st, and was attended by a very large concourse of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
party settled in Napa, where his grandmother Young and other relatives were living. Here he rented land and he and his brother farmed; his brother looking after the ranch work while our subject was employed as a bookkeeper in a warehouse in Napa. An uncle from the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County paid the family a visit at Napa and advised them to move to this county and settle in the San Ramon Valley. This they did, and the two young men leased 100 acres of land from William Lynch in San Ramon and farmed for the following seven years. In 1869 Mr.
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 archiveMount Diablo from San Ramon 1866
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAndrew Wiedeman is born here
Born hereAuston Matthews is born here
Born hereAnna Cockrell is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 San Ramon’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 75 people in 1880 to 84,605 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on San Ramon’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
San Ramon’s post office has been open since 1852. Another post office, San Ramoon, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The San Ramon post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1983.
San Ramon is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #265 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.
One place: the Forest Home Farms (listed 2002).
0.3% of San Ramon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
2025
2025
2022
2017
2012
2010
