More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #550 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Shingle Springs was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1980.
From Shingle Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Shingle Springs began
When was Shingle Springs founded?
1865
The Shingle Springs post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Shingle Spring (1853) and Shingle (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,268 in 19802020 census: 4,660161 years
How historic is Shingle Springs?
C−
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Shingle Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Shingle Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shingle Springs is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #550 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Shingle Springs’ 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 Shingle Springs’ 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 D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Shingle Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Like many of the other towns in California's Mother Lode, Shingle Springs grew out of a camp set up by gold miners during the California Gold Rush - in this case, a group of "49ers" who'd followed the Carson-Emigrant Trail through Pleasant Valley, Nevada. The community took its name from a horse-drawn shingle machine capable of producing 16,000 shingles a day that was located near the springs at the western edge of the camp.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shingle Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1949Shingle Springs 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 Shingle Springs.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewLatrobe Elementary Sign
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Shingle Springs’ page.
The Shingle Springs post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Shingle Springs rank for history?
Shingle Springs is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #550 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.
How old are the homes in Shingle Springs?
1% of Shingle Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (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.
Date?
Date?
Date?
