Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #52 of 847 in California. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 10 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1960.
The Woodside post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Searsville (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodside is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #52 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold 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 Woodside’s 25.4 sits above most of its state (95% of California towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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.
Woodside had its own post office from 1854 to 1915. Another post office, Searsville, 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).
4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Woodside.
The Woodside area was originally home to the Ohlone tribe. In 1769, led by Gaspar de Portolá, Spanish explorers searching for San Francisco Bay camped at a site near Woodside. In 1840, the land that was to be the future Woodside became part of a Mexican land grant, Rancho Cañada de Raymundo, which in 1841 was granted to an Englishman, John Coppinger.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Woodside, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first white man, other than the Spaniards, who made what might be considered a permanent settlement in this part of the country, was William Smith, more commonly known as "Bill the Sawyer." He planted his domicile near where the town of Woodside now stands. At precisely what time he arrived on this coast, or what particular inducement brought him into the redwoods, no one now living can tell. The best authority on the subject, and the most definite statement, is his own story, to the effect that he came out to Astoria on one of the Pacific Fur Company's ships, and that when the British
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the Horn, and landed in San Francisco, March 13, 1850. He went to the mines, first at Angels' Camp, then to Mokelumne Hill and San Andreas, where he remained until 1852, when he returned to San Francisco. In May of that year he settled at Woodside and run a stage line from that place to San Francisco. He erected the pioneer shingle mill at Woodside, and followed the business of shingle making until his settlement at San Mateo in 1861.
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.
In the archive18-RSM-PG012-CANADA DE RAYMUNDO
In the archive2-RSM-PG041-Arroyo AlembiqueBuiltFolger Estate Stable Historic District is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveParking lot in Woodside, CA 1965
In the archiveFiloli Gardens
Born hereZachary Test is born here
Born hereKarl Cook is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Woodside. 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 Woodside.
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 Woodside’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 3,592 and 5,352 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Woodside’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Woodside post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Woodside is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #52 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Independence Hall (listed 1978, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Green Gables-Fleischhacker, Mortimer, Country House and the Folger Estate Stable Historic District, with 10 contributing buildings. 13 historic buildings in all.
17% of Woodside’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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), 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.
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