Founding year: the first Ukiah post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ukiah’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ukiah is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #119 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ukiah’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 Ukiah’s 3.1 sits above most of its state (84% of California towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% 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 (±2.6 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 Ukiah’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.
The region has been inhabited by the Pomo for thousands of years. The modern area of Ukiah derives its name from the Pomo village (band) of Yokáya, meaning "deep valley" or "south valley".
Russian-American Company led by commander Ross visited Ukiah and the Russian River in 1750, during their exploration of the Alaskan Northwest and Hawaii . Eventually Point Cabrillo was visited and named by the Spanish explorers, although Cabrillo only visited San Diego Bay and never visited the point. The land was inhabited by Pomo natives who lived as hunter-gatherers until the time. Some Chinese explorers visited as well during the early times of Chinatown San Francisco and the building of the railroad lines.
Passages that mention Ukiah, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Mendocino County, California1880 · page 485Read the page →
Read the text
" To the Honorable, the Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County, State of California — " We, the undersigned, as a majority of the qualified electors of the town of Ukiah City, in said county, and who have resided in said town for the last thirty days, would respectfully represent that the plat hereto attached sets correctly forth the meets and bounds of said town; that the population of said town exceeds two hundred in number, and we pray to be incorporated under and by virtue of an Act of the Legislature of the State of California, entitled
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Mendocino County, California1880 · page 631Read the page →
Read the text
Panama to Missouri, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1857, when he again crossed the plains to this State. He came direct to Mendocino county and followed farming and stock-raising about two and one-half miles south from Ukiah until the fall of 1863, when he moved still further down the valley, about nine miles from Ukiah. He lived there until 1865, when he moved to Ukiah and has since re.sided there. In 1867 he was elected Sheriff of the county, and re-elected at the next election, serving four years in all. Mr. Crockett married, December 25, 1853, Miss
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
Ukiah, 1858 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Ukiah’s history
What year was Ukiah founded?
The Ukiah post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ukiah rank for history?
Ukiah is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #119 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.
What is on the National Register in Ukiah?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Palace Hotel (listed 1979, the first).
How old are the homes in Ukiah?
10% of Ukiah’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (5), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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