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–Not graded
History · Caliente

Caliente’s post office opened in 1901, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Caliente Railroad Depot and the Smith Hotel-Cornelius Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1950.

1901first post office
2on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Caliente’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Caliente began

When was Caliente founded?

1901

The Caliente post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Yoacham (1893), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 970 in 19502020 census: 990125 years
Founding year: the first Caliente post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Caliente’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Caliente’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Caliente came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Caliente.

Read it all →

Caliente was founded in 1901 on Culverwell Ranch (or just "Culverwell"), built on land owned by William and Charles Culverwell. The town was initially given the name of "Calientes", due to the hot springs present in the area, but later in the year a post office was erected and workers removed the "s" from the name of the town. In 1905, the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was completed, followed by the construction of the train depot in the style of Spanish mission architecture. The train depot, built in 1923, is now home to some city and county offices and a museum that exhibits historical information. Caliente once reached a peak of over 5,000 residents, but declined in the late 1940s as a result of rail dieselization.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Caliente, 1850 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Nevada - Lincoln County - ED 9-1, ED 9-2,…
  3. 1893Post officeThe Yoacham post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Post officeThe Caliente post office opens
  6. 1902Post officeThe Yoacham post office closes
  7. 1923BuiltCaliente Railroad Depot is built
  8. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Caliente, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Nevada - Lincoln County - ED 9-1, ED 9-2, ED 9-318501940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Nevad…
Today9 recent
NV Caliente 318304 1970 24000 geo2018NV Caliente 318304 1970 24000 geo2015-01-15 15 37 35 View north along U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 15 37 35 View north along U.S. Route 93 in2015-01-15 15 36 28 View north across the railroad in central20152015-01-15 15 36 28 View north across the railroad in…2015-01-15 14 39 58 View south along U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 14 39 58 View south along U.S. Route 93 in2015-01-15 14 39 33 View south along U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 14 39 33 View south along U.S. Route 93 in2015-01-15 14 39 17 View south along U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 14 39 17 View south along U.S. Route 93 in2015-01-15 10 59 59 View north at the north end of Nevada State Route 317 at U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 10 59 59 View north at the north end of Ne…2015-01-15 10 58 59 View south from the north end of Nevada State Route 317 at U.S. Route 93 in20152015-01-15 10 58 59 View south from the north end of …Ferguson Ruins2008Ferguson Ruins
On the map

Caliente on the map in 1970

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Caliente.

Caliente on the 1970 USGS map1970Caliente 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 Caliente.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Nevada - Lincoln County - ED 9-1, ED 9-2, ED 9-3
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Nevada - Lincoln County - ED 9-1, ED 9-2, ED 9-3, 1850

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Caliente’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Caliente

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Caliente Railroad Depot
Caliente Railroad Depot, built 1923Smith Hotel-Cornelius Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Neo-Mission1
Vernacular1
Caliente Railroad DepotNeo-Mission · Built 1923
All 2 listings
Smith Hotel-Cornelius HotelBuilding · listed 2008

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

People over time

Caliente, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001960198020002020Peak: 1,130

Between 792 and 1,130 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Caliente’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Caliente’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Yoacham, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Yoacham
1893–1902
Caliente
1901–today
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Strawberry HillYoacham
Gone or out of use
Archie Yoacham RanchlocaleOxborrow Ranch Landing FieldairportSunset MinemineUnion Pacific QuarrymineYoacham Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Caliente
Caliente CityConway Memorial Park VeteransIndependent Order of Odd Fellows

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BeaverdamIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBennett SpringsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Caliente’s history

What year was Caliente founded?

The Caliente post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Caliente?

Two places: the Caliente Railroad Depot (listed 1974) and the Smith Hotel-Cornelius Hotel (2008).

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 Wikimedia Commons (10), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.