More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #558 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Templeton was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and old-book passages.
Founding year: the first Templeton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Templeton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Templeton is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #558 of 847 in California. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Templeton’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 Templeton’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 D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Templeton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1888Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Templeton on the map, 1919 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Templeton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1919Paso Robles 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 Templeton.
Templeton is located within the former Rancho Paso de Robles Mexican land grant and was founded in 1886 when Chauncey Hatch Phillips of the West Coast Land Company sent R.R. Harris to survey 160 acres (0.65 km2) set aside for a town to exist south of Paso Robles as part of the company's larger purchase of 63,000 acres (250 km2). These 160 acres were to be laid out in business and residential lots with 5–12 acre parcels, with the town to be named "Crocker" after a Vice President of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Charles F. Crocker; however, Crocker instead chose to name the town "Templeton," after his two-year-old son, Charles Templeton Crocker.
Passages that mention Templeton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county and environs who have been identified with the growth and development of the section from the early days to the present1917 · page 107Read the page →
Read the text
Templeton was "the end of the line"' until January 31, 1889. In the summer of 1888, grading was begun for the road from Templeton to Santa Margarita, and the road reached the new townsitc January 31, 1889.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county and environs who have been identified with the growth and development of the section from the early days to the present1917 · page 104Read the page →
Read the text
to the coast, like the highwaj', and to build a similar road from San Luis Obisi)o up the coast to San Simeon. For several years all the new county bridges have been made of either concrete or steel. Fine steel bridges span the Salinas at Templeton, Paso Robles, San Miguel and other points, and our concrete bridges are beautiful, especially the one at Atascadero Colony, with its electroliers. The apportionment for building and improving county roads for the year 1916-1917 is $86,717.51.
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.
Timeline
Templeton, 1886 to 1996
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.
The Templeton post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Templeton rank for history?
Templeton is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #558 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.
How old are the homes in Templeton?
1% of Templeton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1995.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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