Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #33 of 847 in California. What drives it
17 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 41 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1880.
The St. Helena post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Helena is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #33 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 St. Helena’s 111 sits above most of its state (99% of California towns have fewer) while its 59 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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 St. Helena’s history is told.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Helena.
St. Helena was first inhabited by a native American group known as the Wappo people. They spoke Yukian and are believed to have first settled in St. Helena as early as 2000 B.C. The Wappo name for the area is Anakotanoma, meaning 'Bull Snake Village'.
The area was likely named after a nearby mountain known as Mount St. Helena.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention St. Helena, cut from the printed page as they were published.
thought prudent to abandon it, and retired, with his garrison and principal effects, on board some ships in the roads, taking, however, the precaution of placing a sloop to cruise to windward of St. Helena to warn British vessels of its capture, and a squadron arriving soon after (in May, 1673), under Captain Munden, he succeeded in recapturing the island, and, by keeping the Dutch flag flying after he got
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.
BuiltSt. Helena Catholic Church is builtBuiltGreystone Cellars is built
In the archiveGreystone Cellars 1889
In the archiveGreystone Cellars c. 1892BuiltSt. Helena High School is builtBuiltSt. Helena Public Library is built
Born hereFrank K. Richardson is born here
Born hereDon Mossi is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMike Thompson is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Helena. 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 St. Helena.
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 St. Helena’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,339 and 5,950 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Helena’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
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 St. Helena post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
St. Helena is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #33 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.
17 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Rhine House (listed 1972, the first), 3 historic districts, the St. Helena Historic Commercial District, the Beringer Brothers-Los Hermanos Winery and the St. Helena Public Cemetery, with 41 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 59 historic buildings in all.
21% of St. Helena’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (2), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (17), 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.
