County Past
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San Mateo County, California

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
64historic places
—earliest paper
1856formed
764,442pop. 2020
25cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 64 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1966; 2 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near Redwood City, San Mateo, Woodside.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for California is not yet loaded on this site. Browse San Mateo titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

50 of 64 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

64 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Archeological Site SMA-151PrincetonSite1978
Barron-Latham-Hopkins Gate LodgeMenlo ParkBuilding1986
Bourn-Roth EstateWoodsideBuilding1975
Brittan, Nathanial, Party HouseSan CarlosBuilding1994
Burlingame Railroad StationBurlingameBuilding1978
Carolands, TheHillsboroughBuilding1975
Casa de TabletaPortola ValleyBuilding1973
Church of the NativityMenlo ParkBuilding1980
Coxhead, Ernest, HouseSan MateoBuilding2000
De Sabla, Eugene J., Jr., Teahouse and Tea GardenSan MateoDistrict1992
Dickerman BarnPescaderoStructure1982
Dielmann, John, HouseRedwood CityBuilding2015
First Congregational Church of PescaderoPescaderoBuilding1980
Folger Estate Stable Historic DistrictWoodsideDistrict2004
Golden Gate National CemeterySan BrunoDistrict2016
Green Gables-Fleischhacker, Mortimer, Country HouseWoodsideDistrict1986
Green Oaks Ranch HousePescaderoBuilding1976
Hofmann, Arthur and Mona, HouseHillsboroughBuilding1991
Holbrook-Palmer Estate, "Elmwood"AthertonBuilding2016
Hotel St. MatthewSan MateoBuilding1998
Howard-Ralston Eucalyptus Tree RowsBurlingameSite2012
Independence HallWoodsideBuilding1978
Johnston, James, HouseHalf Moon BayBuilding1973
Kohl MansionBurlingameBuilding1982
Lathrop HouseRedwood CityBuilding1973
Martin BuildingSouth San FranciscoBuilding1997
Mathews, Arthur C. and Judith, HouseAthertonBuilding2021
Menlo Park Railroad StationMenlo ParkBuilding1974
Methodist Episcopal Church at Half Moon BayHalf Moon BayBuilding1980
Methodist Episcopal Church of PescaderoPescaderoBuilding1982
Mills, Robert, Dairy BarnHalf Moon BayDistrict1990
National Bank of San MateoSan MateoBuilding1997
New Sequoia Theater BuildingRedwood CityBuilding1994
Newhall EstateHillsboroughBuilding2007
Offerman, John, HouseRedwood CityBuilding2015
Our Lady of the WaysidePortola ValleyBuilding1977
POLARIS (research vessel)Redwood CityStructure2015
Pigeon Point LighthousePescaderoDistrict1977
Pilarcitos Creek BridgeHalf Moon BayStructure2014
Point Montara Light StationMontaraDistrict1991
Portola Valley SchoolPortola ValleyBuilding1974
Princeton HotelPrincetonBuilding1979
Ralston, William C., House NHLBelmontBuilding1966
Redwood City Historic Commercial BuildingsRedwood CityDistrict1977
Redwood City Woman’s ClubRedwood CityBuilding2021
San Francisco Bay Discovery Site NHLSan BrunoSite1968
San Gregorio HouseSan GregorioBuilding1977
San Mateo County CourthouseRedwood CityBuilding1977
Sanchez Adobe ParkPacificaDistrict1976
Sequoia Union High SchoolRedwood CityDistrict1995
Simmons, William Adam, HouseHalf Moon BayBuilding1992
South San Francisco Hillside SignSouth San FranciscoObject1996
Southern Pacific DepotMillbraeBuilding1978
Southern Pacific DepotSan CarlosBuilding1984
Southern Pacific Railroad Bayshore RoundhouseBrisbaneBuilding2010
Timby HouseSan CarlosBuilding2024
US Post Main Office-San MateoSan MateoBuilding1988
Union CemeteryRedwood CitySite1983
Vollers, Amelia, HouseSan MateoBuilding2015
Watkins, Commodore James, HouseAthertonBuilding2008
Whifler, William A., HouseBurlingameBuilding2016
Woodside StoreWoodsideBuilding1985
X-100San MateoBuilding2016
Yamanouchi, Yoshiko, HouseSan MateoDistrict2023

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

San Mateo was formed in 1856 (1856-07-01) from San Francsco.

SAN MATEO created from SAN FRANCSCO; southern boundary with SANTA CRUZ was in dispute [see 18 February 1850].

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

San Mateo County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

764k384k3,2141860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
3,2148,66912,09436,781111,782235,659444,387587,329707,161764,442

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

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
Presidio of San FranciscoPark unit43.6 km
Golden Gate National Recreation AreaPark unit44.1 km
San Francisco Maritime National Historical ParkPark unit44.1 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

25 cemeteries and 3 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 25 of 25 listed
NameLatLon
Chinese Cemetery37.66709-122.47265
Chinese Christian Cemetery37.66795-122.46201
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park37.67029-122.45848
Golden Gate National Cemetery37.63243-122.4344
Greenlawn Cemetery37.67699-122.46334
Hills of Eternity Memorial Park37.6766-122.45275
Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery37.67135-122.44596
Holy Cross Cemetery37.43389-122.19722
Home of Peace Cemetery37.6775-122.45361
Hoy Sun Memorial Cemetery37.6786-122.44497
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery37.46881-122.428
Italian Cemetery37.68198-122.45907
Japanese Cemetery37.68361-122.45806
Mount Hope Cemetery37.258-122.38275
Olivet Memorial Park37.68483-122.45491
Orange Memorial Park37.6541-122.42692
Pilarcitos Cemetery37.46855-122.42914
Russian Sectarian Cemetery37.66756-122.46347
Saint Anthony Cemetery37.25883-122.38303
Saint Johns Cemetery37.54827-122.33691
Salem Memorial Park37.67921-122.45611
Serbian Cemetery37.68014-122.44962
Skylawn Memorial Park37.49713-122.37113
Union Cemetery37.47383-122.2233
Woodlawn Memorial Park37.68042-122.46685
Historical populated places — 3 of 3
NameLatLon
Purisima37.40411-122.41359
Runnymeade37.46772-122.13496
Searsville37.40244-122.24524

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker 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 Mateo County, California

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.