Founding year: the first Talmage post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Talmage’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Talmage is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Talmage’s overall grade.
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 Talmage’s 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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±18.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Talmage’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Talmage. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1920Ukiah 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 Talmage.
The story so far
Talmage, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Talmage yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Talmage (variant, Talmadge) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. Talmage is located 2.5 miles (4 km) east-southeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of 627 feet (191 m). The population was 986 at the 2020 census, down from 1,130 in 2010. It lies in the southeastern part of the Ukiah Valley and is home to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, one of the largest Chan Buddhist temples in the United States. The town's name honors early settler Junius Talmage.
Its first post office opened in 1891. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,130 to 986 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Talmage, 1891 to 1920
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Talmage’s history
What year was Talmage founded?
The Talmage post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Talmage rank for history?
Talmage is more historic than 42% 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 Talmage?
20% of Talmage’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±18.2 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (18), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
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