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History · Volcano

Volcano’s post office opened in 1851, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the St. George Hotel. Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1948 on.

1851first post office
1on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Volcano’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Volcano began

When was Volcano founded?

1851

The Volcano post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 104175 years
Founding year: the first Volcano post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Volcano’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Volcano’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Volcano’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Volcano’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGS: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Volcano came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Volcano.

Read it all →

The town is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley which early gold miners thought was caused by a volcano. Early-morning fog rising from the valley floor only reinforced that belief. The area was first designated by Colonel Stevenson's men, who mined Soldiers Gulch in 1849. In 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses. By 1853 the flats and gulches swarmed with men, and there were 11 stores, six hotels, three bakeries, and three saloons. Hydraulic mining operations, begun in 1855, brought thousands of fortune seekers to form a town of 17 hotels, a library, a theater, and courts of quick justice.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Volcano, 1850 to 1948

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archiveCF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGS
  3. 1851Post officeThe Volcano post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Volcano, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s3 items
CF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGS1850CF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGSVolcano CA 18541854Volcano CA 1854Meyers Universum Band 18 261857Meyers Universum Band 18 26
Today15 recent
Astronomical observatory plaque in2021Astronomical observatory plaque inVolcano California 4522015Volcano California 452Daffodil Hill2015Daffodil HillDaffodil Hill Volcano Calif. 442015Daffodil Hill Volcano Calif. 44Daffodil Hill Volcano Calif2015Daffodil Hill Volcano CalifThe St. George Wine room located in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that…2012The St. George Wine room located in the town of Volca…Tree stump bear sculpture in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early …2012Tree stump bear sculpture in the town of Volcano, Cal…Bell in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early miners thought was ca…2012Bell in the town of Volcano, California, named for it…Old building in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early miners though…2012Old building in the town of Volcano, California, name…The town of Volcano, California, is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early miners thought was caused …2012The town of Volcano, California, is named for its set…St. George Hotel, the largest structure in the town of Volcano in Amador County, California2012St. George Hotel, the largest structure in the town o…St. George Hotel, the largest structure in the town of Volcano in Amador County, California2012St. George Hotel, the largest structure in the town o…Tree stump bear sculpture in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early …2012Tree stump bear sculpture in the town of Volcano, Cal…Bell in the town of Volcano, California, named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley that early miners thought was ca…2012Bell in the town of Volcano, California, named for it…Black chasm2011Black chasm
On the map

Volcano on the map in 1948

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Volcano.

Volcano on the 1948 USGS map1948Pine Grove sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Volcano.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

CF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGS
Retake this viewCF1850 THE VOLCANO DIGGINGS, 1850

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Volcano’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Volcano

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
St. George Hotel
St. George Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
St. George HotelGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Volcano’s post office has been open since 1851.

Gone or out of use
Volcano Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Volcano
Volcano CatholicVolcano Protestant

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Volcano’s history

What year was Volcano founded?

The Volcano post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Volcano?

One place: the St. George Hotel (listed 1984).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

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 Wikimedia Commons (11), the Library of Congress (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.