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History · Porterville

Porterville’s post office opened in 1890, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Porterville General Store. Below: maps from 1974 on.

1890first post office
1on the National Register
2famous people
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Quick answers

How Porterville began

When was Porterville founded?

1890

The Porterville post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Marysville (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 34136 years
Founding year: the first Porterville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Porterville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Porterville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Porterville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Porterville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Porterville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Porterville.

Read it all →

By August 1856, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad had laid track through Porterville. On May 24, 1890, a post office was opened in Porterville, likely coinciding with a train station being opened around the same time.

Porterville was named for the first postmaster, Willie N. Porter.

The community is located on the CPKC Railroad ex Kansas City Southern Railway Porterville was once home to several stores and in 1906 had a population of 200.

The Porterville General Store is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Porterville, 1881 to 1994

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Marysville post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Marysville post office closes
  4. 1890Post officeThe Porterville post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Born hereClay Hopper is born here
  7. 1913BuiltPorterville General Store is built
  8. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1994Born hereDevonta Pollard is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Porterville on the map, 1974 to 1987

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Porterville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Porterville on the 1974 USGS mapPorterville on the 1987 USGS map1974Porterville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Porterville.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Porterville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2006
Porterville General Store
Porterville General Store, built 1913
Buildings
Porterville General StoreBuilt 1913

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Porterville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
Devonta PollardAmerican basketball player · b. 1994
C
Clay HopperAmerican baseball player · b. 1902
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Porterville’s post office has been open since 1890. Another post office, Marysville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Marysville
1881–1882
Porterville
1890–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Porterville High Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Porterville
Robbins

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Porterville’s history

What year was Porterville founded?

The Porterville post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Porterville?

One place: the Porterville General Store (listed 2006).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.