Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Waterloo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Waterloo sheet · 1:31,680
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Waterloo.
The story so far
Waterloo, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Waterloo yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Waterloo is a census-designated place in San Joaquin County, California. Waterloo sits at an elevation of 62 feet (19 m). The 2020 United States census reported Waterloo's population was 534.
Its first post office opened in 1865. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 572 to 534 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Waterloo, 1877–1893
Passages that mention Waterloo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The duke of Wellington established his head-quarters opposite the church at Waterloo, (now the post-house and post-ofhee;) while his Imperial antagonist. Napoleon, pitched his tent near the farm of Caillou, about five miles from Waterloo, on the East-side of the Genappe road, in the parish of Old-Genappe. The Imperial baggage was also at this farm. • Most of the houses in the villages adjacent Waterloo
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The difficulty with this reasoning, as it seems to us, Hes in the fact that it was not that he might be strong enough to defeat Welhngton that Napoleon needed to have all his army on the field of Waterloo, but in order to prevent his being overwhelmed by the union of the army of Bliicher to that of Wellington. With the army of Wellington the force Napoleon had at Waterloo was abundantly able to cope ; but against the two armies of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
most of his foreign contingents; and with only his English regiments and those of the King's German Legion he could not have mustered a sufficient force to justify him in accepting battle at Waterloo, even if he had been otherwise disposed to do so. In fact, one may safely conclude, that the battle of Waterloo would not have been fought had not d'Erlon's Corps been turned aside by the unauthorized act of the staff-officer. We
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
Waterloo, 1865 to 1908
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
