Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #450 of 847 in California. What drives it
Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1970.
The Willowbrook post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Willow Brook (1906), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Willowbrook is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #450 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Willowbrook’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 Willowbrook’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Willowbrook. 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 Willowbrook.
Peaked at 35,983 in 2010; 24,295 people lived here in 2020.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Willowbrook’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Willowbrook.
Long before the name "Willowbrook" was given, willows and a slow, shallow brook separated this portion of the Los Angeles plain from the rest of it. The original rancho boundary of the 1840s was a lone, streamside willow tree along the present intersection of 125th Street and Mona Boulevard.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNobody well known was born in Willowbrook itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Willow Brook, 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 Willowbrook post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Willowbrook is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #450 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.
13% of Willowbrook’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (3), Wikipedia, 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.
2024
2024
2013