Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #86 of 847 in California. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Roop's Fort, the Lassen County Court House and the Susanville Railroad Depot. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1890.
The Susanville post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name.
It was originally known as Rooptown, named for Isaac Roop, a pioneer of the Honey Lake District.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Susanville is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #86 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 Susanville’s 2.1 sits above most of its state (81% of California towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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 Susanville’s history is told.
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 year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Susanville.
The Susanville US post office was established in 1860. Early in its history, Susanville was a hub for overland freight transit, as it marked the meeting point of Nobles Emigrant Trail from Nevada and the Humboldt Wagon Road leading west to Chico. Susanville was incorporated in 1900.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Susanville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
On the eleventh the Board ordered notices to be posted stating that until the 18th proposals would be received by the Board for selling to the county a suitable site in the town of Susanville for the location of the county buildings. On June 18th Isaac Roop's gift of a block of land in Susanville for a public square was accepted. At the meeting of July second the Board ordered notices posted stating that until August eighth proposals would be received for the building of a county jail. On August eighth
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the eleventh the Board ordered notices to be posted stating that until the 18th proposals would be received by the Board for selling to the county a suitable site in the town of Susanville for the location of the county buildings. On June 18th Isaac Roop’s gift of a block of land in Susanville for a public square was accepted. At the meeting of July second the Board ordered notices posted stating that until August eighth proposals would be received for the building of a county jail. On August eighth
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
months. His prices were the same as those charged by others, fifty cents for a letter or a paper, or perhaps more if the weather was bad. Grant Tilford was the expressman from Carson City to Susanville in December, 1859. There was no postoffice at Susanville and Governor Roop took charge of the mail that was left there and distributed it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
months. His prices were the same as those charged by others, fifty cents for a letter or a paper, or perhaps more if the weather was bad. Grant Tilford was the expressman from Carson City to Susanville in, December, 1859. There was no postoffice at Susanville and Governor Roop took charge of the mail that was left there and distributed it.
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.
In the archiveGeological Survey Corrected to the Latitude of Susanville as Explorations
Born hereJohn Slater Partridge is born here
Born hereFrank Cady is born here
BuiltLassen County Court House is built
BuiltSusanville Railroad Depot is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMike Skinner is born here
In the archiveMasonic Temple (1920), door detail, Lassen Street2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Susanville. 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 Susanville.
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 Susanville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 688 and 17,947 people in every census since 1890.
13 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Susanville’s Wikipedia page.
Susanville’s post office has been open since 1859.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Susanville post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Susanville is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #86 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.
Three places: the Roop's Fort (listed 1974), the Lassen County Court House (1998) and the Susanville Railroad Depot (2001).
16% of Susanville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, 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.
1991
1991
