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History · Stirling City

Stirling City’s post office opened in 1903, and 51% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1909 on.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
51%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Stirling City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Stirling City began

When was Stirling City founded?

1903

The Stirling City post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 284123 years
Founding year: the first Stirling City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Stirling City’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Stirling City’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Stirling City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Stirling City’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewDiamond Match RR: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Stirling City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Stirling City.

Read it all →

It was founded in 1903 by the Diamond Match Company of Barberton, Ohio, as a center for processing cut lumber from the surrounding forests. Diamond Match official Fred Clough named the city, taking the name from the boiler used at Diamond's Baberton plant, made by the Stirling Boiler Company.

The sawmill closed in the early 1970s. The land surrounding Stirling City is still harvested for timber, and the cleared area is farmed for cattle, fruit, and nuts.

The town received minimal damage during the 2018 Camp Fire, during which it was protected by members of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Stirling City, 1903 to 1953

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Stirling City post office opens
  3. 1953In the archiveDiamond Match RR
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Stirling City, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s1 item
Diamond Match RR1953Diamond Match RR
1960s–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
Date unknown1 to date
Wfm stirling city sat photoDate?Wfm stirling city sat photo
Today4 recent
Stirling City Historical Society Museum (2024)-L10059772024Stirling City Historical Society Museum (2024)-L10059…Stirling City Community Garden-L10059792024Stirling City Community Garden-L1005979Merlo Chapel, Stirling City (2024)-L10059962024Merlo Chapel, Stirling City (2024)-L1005996House on Skyway in Stirling City (2024)-L10059872024House on Skyway in Stirling City (2024)-L1005987
On the map

Stirling City on the map, 1953 to 1995

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

Stirling City on the 1953 USGS mapStirling City on the 1979 USGS mapStirling City on the 1995 USGS map1953Paradise sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Stirling City.

Every building

Stirling City, building by building, 1909

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Stirling City fire insurance map, 1909, sheet 11909Sheet 1 of 5
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Diamond Match RR
Retake this viewDiamond Match RR, 1953

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Stirling City’s history

What year was Stirling City founded?

The Stirling City post office opened in 1903, 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 (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.