Beers and St. John Company Coach Inn · Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0
Downey’s post office opened in 1857, and 100% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the Secrest Octagon Barn, the Downey Savings Bank and the Downey School.
How Downey began
When was Downey founded?
The Downey post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.
3 historic places in Downey
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.
Lost post offices and places now gone
Downey had its own post office from 1857 to 1957.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Downey’s history
What year was Downey founded?
The Downey post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Downey?
Three places: the Secrest Octagon Barn (listed 1974), the Downey Savings Bank (1976) and the Downey School (2019).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Where this page comes from
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.