San Benito County, California
Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.
At a glance
SummaryThe National Register of Historic Places includes 15 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1969; 3 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near San Juan Bautista, Hollister, Paicines.
Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.
Newspapers
Library of CongressNewspaper directory data for California is not yet loaded on this site. Browse San Benito titles at the Library of Congress.
National Register of Historic Places
NPS NRHP8 of 15 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.
15 listed properties
| Property | City | Listed |
|---|---|---|
| Anza House NHL | San Juan Bautista | 1970 |
| Bear Valley School | Paicines | 2014 |
| Castro, Jose, House NHL | San Juan Bautista | 1970 |
| Chalone Creek Archeological Sites | Soledad | 1978 |
| Downtown Hollister Historic District | Hollister | 1992 |
| Hawkins, Joel and Rena, House | Hollister | 1993 |
| Hollister Carnegie Library | Hollister | 1992 |
| Lyons, Harrison, Homestead Historic District | Paicines | 2016 |
| Marentis House | San Juan Bautista | 1984 |
| McCallum, Roy D., House | Hollister | 1997 |
| Monterey Street Historic District | Hollister | 1993 |
| Rozas House | San Juan Bautista | 1982 |
| San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District NHL | San Juan Bautista | 1969 |
| San Juan Bautista Third Street Historic District | San Juan Bautista | 2009 |
| Wilcox, Benjamin, House | San Juan Bautista | 1982 |
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.
County formation
Newberry AHCBSan Benito was formed in 1874 (1874-02-12) from Monterey.
SAN BENITO created from MONTEREY.
Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Population by decade
CensusSan Benito County population from 1880 to 2020 (Census historical series).
| 1880 | 1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,584 | 6,633 | 8,995 | 11,392 | 14,370 | 15,396 | 25,005 | 53,234 | 64,209 |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.
National Park Service sites nearby
NPSPark units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).
| Site | Type | Dist. |
|---|---|---|
| Pinnacles National Park | Park unit | 16.2 km |
Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.
Cemeteries & historical places
USGS GNIS8 cemeteries and 3 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.
Cemeteries — 8 of 8 listed
| Name |
|---|
| Bitterwater Cemetery |
| Calvary Cemetery |
| Cherry Hill Cemetery |
| Clayton Cemetery |
| Odd Fellows Cemetery |
| San Juan Bautista Cemetery |
| Williams-Duckworth Cemetery |
| Willow Creek Cemetery |
Historical populated places — 3 of 3
| Name |
|---|
| Duri |
| Fep |
| Vineyard |
Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.
Historical markers
HMdb linkMarker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.
Search HMdb for San Benito County, California
Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.