More historic than 11% of U.S. towns · #662 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Winton was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1917 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Winton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Winton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Winton is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #662 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Winton’s overall grade.
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 Winton’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.9 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Winton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In the 1910, Atwater businessman H. A. Logue tried to establish a small settlement named Yam at the crossroads of the Santa Fe line by building the Yam Hotel and a store built there as the center of the new colony. At about the same time, the Crocker-Huffman interests sold roughly twelve square miles of nearby land to the Co-operative Land and Trust Company of San Francisco, which laid out a planned farming community along the railroad. This development, originally associated with the Winn Ranch and known as Winfield, included a garage and a centralized water system with a well and elevated tank.
Passages that mention Winton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Merced County, California1925 · page 827Read the page →
Read the text
ALBERT EDWARD SMITH The town of Winton was named after the surveyor of Merced County, who was operating for a land and trust company. In 1918 a fourth class postoffice was started with Harry A. Logue as postmaster; it was made a third class postoffice on February 14, 1923.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Merced County, California1925 · page 374Read the page →
Read the text
The "Map of the Town of Winton, comprising all of Lots 1 1 1A, 112, 113, 121A, 100B, and parts of Lots 98B, 99B, 97B and 128 of Merced Colony No. 2," was surveyed by Cowell and Winton and recorded April 24, 1912, at the request of the Co-operative Land & Trust Company. The name Winton was more or less an accident. It was first called "Winfield" ; but the Santa Fe had one "Winfield" on their lines and refused to stand for another, and in the observance of an economy which sought a substitute that would involve the minimum
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.
By decade
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Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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The Winton post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Winton rank for history?
Winton is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #662 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.
How old are the homes in Winton?
4% of Winton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 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 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.
