The Snelling post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Snelling's Ranch (1853), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 238156 years
Founding year: the first Snelling post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Snelling’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The "Snelling Ranch" post office opened in 1853, was closed for a time during 1861, and changed its name to "Snelling" in 1870. The name is from the Snelling family that operated a way station at the place beginning in 1851.
Snelling was the county seat of Merced County from 1857 to 1872. The courthouse constructed in 1857 continued to serve as a justice court until the 1990s. The two-story building remains standing today and is a rare surviving example of a simple early California courthouse.
Passages that mention Snelling, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Merced County, California1925 · page 582Read the page →
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Shaw gained his elementary education. Being reared as a farmer's son, he worked out on ranches as a plow boy, and later on the Bill Grade ranch, driving eightto ten-animal teams. Upon removing to Snelling in 1895, he ran a freight team from Merced to Snelling and Merced Falls, continuing in this business for seven years. Upon the completion of the Yosemite Valley Railroad he was appointed by the American Railway Express as agent at Snelling, and he served from May 21, 1906 until January, 1921.
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A history of Merced County, California1925 · page 189Read the page →
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R. R. Leak, and James W. Robertson, having been duly appointed and created a County Board of Examination for Merced County, they will meet the County Superintendent of said county at the School House, in the town of Snelling, on Saturday the 30th day of December, 1865, at 9 o'clock. All persons wishing to qualify as teachers, and all teachers holding limited certificates, attend.
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History of Merced County, California ... with biographical sketches of prominent citizens1881Read the page →
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The Snelling family, from whom the town derives its name Jv d at thft place early in the fall of 1851 purchased the "perty and continued its possessor a number of years there- I ter The lady after whom the town of Snelling was named, Jin Missouri on the fifth of June, 1863, agedseven y year, Xs Snelling was the owner of the laud on which the town =2£=S£33S faculties of a strong order.
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History of Merced County, California ... with biographical sketches of prominent citizens1881 · page 179Read the page →
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The canal takes water at a point about four miles above the town of Snelling, and three miles below the settlement known . Shares. Amount.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Snelling, 1853 to 1918
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1910
2025
2010
