The story
Read it all →How Taft Heights came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Taft Heights.
The place was originally called Boust City in honor of E.J. Boust, an oilman who founded the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B+History
History · Taft Heights
39% of Taft Heights’ homes were built before 1940
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1950.
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
About Taft Heights’ history
How historic is Taft Heights?
B+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Taft Heights’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taft Heights is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Taft Heights’ overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194038.7% of homes (±16.8) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical CA town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 68%
NewerOlder
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 Taft Heights’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±16.8 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Taft Heights’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Taft Heights’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Taft Heights’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.By decade
Taft Heights, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
![California [Kern County (part) - Modoc County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/36539/9a1c40c2deb03465bb68-s.jpg)
19401950s–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 albumOn the map
Taft Heights on the map, 1950 to 1973
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Taft Heights. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1950Taft sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Taft Heights.
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.
![California [Kern County (part) - Modoc County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/36539/9a1c40c2deb03465bb68-l.jpg)
Retake this viewCalifornia [Kern County (part) - Modoc County (part)], 1940
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Taft Heights’ page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Taft Heights, census by census
Between 1,865 and 2,661 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Taft Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Taft Heights
Nobody well known was born in Taft Heights itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Taft Heights’ history
How does Taft Heights rank for history?
Taft Heights is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Taft Heights?
39% of Taft Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±16.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1947.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.