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History · Hollister

Hollister’s post office opened in 1916, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Hollister was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Its Register listing is the Matthews Place. Below: maps from 1973 on.

1916first post office
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Hollister began

When was Hollister founded?

1916

The Hollister post office opened in 1916, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 618110 years
Founding year: the first Hollister post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hollister’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 Hollister are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hollister’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Hollister came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hollister.

Read it all →

Matthews Place and White Rock Plantation are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hollister, 1847 to 1991

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847BuiltMatthews Place is built
  3. 20th century
  4. 1916Post officeThe Hollister post office opens
  5. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1991Born hereBrooke Simpson 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.
Add from your album
On the map

Hollister on the map, 1973 to 1985

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

Hollister on the 1973 USGS mapHollister on the 1985 USGS map1973Hollister 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 Hollister.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Hollister

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Matthews Place
Matthews Place, built 1847
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Georgian1
Greek Revival1
All 1 listings
Matthews PlaceBuilding · listed 1974

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

Questions about Hollister’s history

What year was Hollister founded?

The Hollister post office opened in 1916, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Hollister?

One place: the Matthews Place (listed 1974).

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.