Tomales’ post office opened in 1879, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery.
How Tomales began
When was Tomales founded?
The Tomales post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Tomalles (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
1 historic place in Tomales
The 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.
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Tomales’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Tomalles, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Tomales’ history
What year was Tomales founded?
The Tomales post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Tomales?
One place: the Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery (listed 1975).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.