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San Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, December 1980Photo: Drew Jacksich from San Jose, California Republic · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Soda Springs

Soda Springs’ post office opened in 1875, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1955 on.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Soda Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Soda Springs began

When was Soda Springs founded?

1875

The Soda Springs post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 94151 years
Founding year: the first Soda Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Soda Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Soda Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Soda Springs’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSoda Springs Jan 75x4: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Soda Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Soda Springs.

Read it all →

Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford established a resort at the location in the 1880s.

The Summit Valley post office opened in 1870, changed its name to Soda Springs in 1875, and closed in 1881. It was reopened in 1929. The Hopkins post office operated from 1885 to 1886. Alternately it was reportedly known as Hopkins Springs until the Soda Springs post office was established on March 8, 1875.

The Central Pacific Railroad station was named Tinkers Station from 1867 to 1873, commemorating J.A. Tinker. Tinker was a "rough, hard-driving, hard-drinking teamster" who hauled freight between the mines on Forest Hill Divide and Soda Springs.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Soda Springs, 1875 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Soda Springs post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1975In the archiveSoda Springs Jan 75x4
  6. 1980In the archiveSan Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, December 1980 (cropped)
By decade

Soda Springs, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s–1980s3 items
Soda Springs Jan 75x41975Soda Springs Jan 75x4San Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, December 1980 (cropped)1980San Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, …San Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, December 19801980San Francisco Zephyr with SP helper at Soda Springs, …
1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Zzyzx Pond - Desert Studies Center - Flickr - docentjoyce2015Zzyzx Pond - Desert Studies Center - Flickr - docentj…2015 Independence Day Hike20152015 Independence Day HikeInterstate 80 at Soda Springs CA.A view from The Eastbound California Zephyr2010Interstate 80 at Soda Springs CA.A view from The East…Former Soda Springs Station Ca2010Former Soda Springs Station CaFormer Soda Springs Station Ca. - panoramio (2)2010Former Soda Springs Station Ca. - panoramio (2)Former Soda Springs Station Ca. - panoramio (1)2010Former Soda Springs Station Ca. - panoramio (1)
On the map

Soda Springs on the map, 1955 to 2000

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Soda Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Soda Springs on the 1955 USGS mapSoda Springs on the 1979 USGS mapSoda Springs on the 2000 USGS map1955Soda 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 Soda 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.

Soda Springs Jan 75x4
Retake this viewSoda Springs Jan 75x4, 1975

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Soda Springs’ page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Soda Springs

Nobody well known was born in Soda Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stacey CookAmerican alpine skier · b. 1984
T
Travis GanongAmerican alpine skier · b. 1988
Bryce BennettAmerican alpine skier · b. 1992
D
Douglas KelleyU.S. Army officer, psychiatrist, criminoligist,… · b. 1912
Marco SullivanAmerican alpine skier · b. 1980
April StewartAmerican voice actress · b. 1969

Questions about Soda Springs’ history

What year was Soda Springs founded?

The Soda Springs post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.