Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #9 of 847 in California. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Knight's Foundry and Shops and the Sutter Creek Grammar School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1880.
Sutter Creek dates its founding to 1848 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sutter Creek is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #9 of 847 in California. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Sutter Creek’s 44.4 sits above most of its state (97% of California towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Sutter Creek’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1920, then more than doubled.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sutter Creek’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1890Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sutter Creek.
The community takes its name from nearby Sutter Creek, which in turn has the name of early California developer John Sutter.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sutter Creek, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The ditch and its branches reach nearly every por tion of the county where water is likely to be needed for mining or agricultural purposes, including in their course Clinton, Irishtown, Sutter Creek, Ama dor City, Jackson, Butte City, Rancheria, New Chicago, Drytown, and lone. The towns of Sutter Creek, Jackson and Amador are supplied with the water for domestic and other purposes. The eleva
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.
BuiltSutter Creek Grammar School is built
BuiltKnight's Foundry and Shops is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sutter Creek. 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 Sutter Creek.
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 Sutter Creek’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Sutter Creek’s post office has been open since 1852.
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.
In 1848, according to Wikidata. Sutter Creek’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1880 counted 1,324 people here.
Sutter Creek is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #9 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.
Two places: the Knight's Foundry and Shops (listed 1975) and the Sutter Creek Grammar School (1976).
17% of Sutter Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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