Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #256 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Windsor was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listings are the James H. and Frances E. Laughlin House and the Cunningham-Hembree Estate. Its Register listings are the James H. and Frances E. Laughlin House and the Cunningham-Hembree Estate. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 2000.
The Windsor post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1992.
More historic than 37% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Windsor is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #256 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 Windsor’s 2.7 sits above most of its state (83% of California towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Windsor’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Windsor. 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 Windsor.
From Wikipedia’s history of Windsor.
The site now occupied by the town of Windsor was originally inhabited by the Southern Pomo. It was known as Tsoliikawai (ćol:ik:o=wi), meaning "blackbird field", a name also applied to the village, tribe or tribelet at the site. This group was probably part of the Kaitactemi tribe that ruled from the Healdsburg area down to Mark West Creek.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Windsor, cut from the printed page as they were published.
By an ordinance, dated the 5th of April, 1655, Lord Commissioner Whitelock, and many others, including the mayor and aldermen of Windsor, were appointed trustees and governors of the almshouses of Windsor Castle, to rule and govern them, according to the statutes found among the statutes of the late dean and canons of Windsor. They were to appoint the knights, with the recommendation, approbation, or consent of the Lord Protector. Sir Francis
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1911Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn 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 Windsor’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 22,744 and 26,801 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Windsor’s Wikipedia page.
Windsor’s post office has been open since 1855.
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 Windsor post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1992.
Windsor is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #256 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.
Two places: the James H. and Frances E. Laughlin House (listed 1979) and the Cunningham-Hembree Estate (2018).
0.8% of Windsor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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