Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns · #55 of 847 in California. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, a National Historic Landmark, and four historic districts with 1,075 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Vallejo post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Solano (1862) and South Vallejo (1870), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vallejo is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #55 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Vallejo ranks #174 on History.
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 Vallejo’s 86.8 sits above most of its state (98% of California towns have fewer) while its 1,079 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Vallejo’s post office has been open since 1851. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Vallejo.
Vallejo was once home of the Coast Miwok as well as Suisunes and other Patwin Native American tribes. There are three confirmed Native American sites located in the rock outcrops in the hills above Blue Rock Springs Park. The California Archaeological Inventory has indicated that the three Indian sites are located on Sulphur Springs Mountain.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveView of a cemetery
In the archiveBf Portomarken D
In the archiveVallejo, California. FSA (Farm Security Administration) dormitory for defense workers
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJeff Gordon is born here
Born hereApril Bowlby is born here
Born hereNatalie Coughlin is born here
Born hereH.E.R. is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vallejo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Vallejo.
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.
1886Sheet 2 of 12Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Vallejo’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 2,188 people in 1870 to 126,090 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Vallejo’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Vallejo post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Vallejo is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
9 listings: 4 buildings, 4 historic districts with 1,075 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 1,079 historic buildings in all.
11% of Vallejo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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