Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 5% of U.S. towns · #766 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Walnut was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1960.
The Walnut post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1959. Another post office, Lemon (1895), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 5% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walnut is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #766 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Walnut’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.
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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walnut’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walnut. 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 Walnut.
From Wikipedia’s history of Walnut.
The area are the traditional lands of the Tongva people. Spanish missionaries who arrived in the 18th century called the indigenes Gabrieleño, because the area where they lived was controlled by the San Gabriel Mission. The Walnut area was part of the network of outlying ranches used for the grazing of cattle and sheep by the Mission.
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 archiveHenry Hancock 1860 U.S. Survey map of Rancho Los Nogales Walnut Los Angeles
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKyle MacKinnon is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Walnut’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 934 and 30,004 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Walnut’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Walnut’s post office has been open since 1908. Another post office, Lemon, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Walnut post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1959.
Walnut is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #766 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.
0.5% of Walnut’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (6), 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) 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.
Date?
2024
2009
2007
2005