County Past
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Santa Barbara County, California

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
53historic places
—earliest paper
1850formed
448,229pop. 2020
14cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 53 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1966; 8 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Goleta.

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 Santa Barbara titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

22 of 53 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

53 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Acacia LodgeSanta BarbaraBuilding1997
Andalucia BuildingSanta BarbaraBuilding1999
Ballard AdobesBallardBuilding2025
Campbell No. 2 Archeological SiteGoletaSite1993
Eastern Sierra Madre Ridge Archeological DistrictNew CuyamaDistrict1978
El Paseo and Casa de la GuerraSanta BarbaraBuilding1977
Faith MissionSanta BarbaraBuilding1982
Goleta DepotGoletaBuilding2002
Gonzalez, Rafael, House NHLSanta BarbaraBuilding1970
Hammond's Estate SiteSanta BarbaraSite1978
Herschell, Allan, 3-Abreast CarouselSanta BarbaraStructure2000
Hill-Carrillo AdobeSanta BarbaraBuilding1986
Hope, Thomas, HouseSanta BarbaraBuilding1978
Janssens-Orella-Birk BuildingSanta BarbaraBuilding1987
Jimmy's Oriental Gardens and Chung Family HouseSanta BarbaraBuilding2026
La Purísima Mission NHLLompocBuilding1970
Lompoc Public LibraryLompocBuilding1990
Lompoc Veterans Memorial BuildingLompocSite2016
Los Alamos Ranch House NHLLos AlamosBuilding1970
Los Banos del MarSanta BarbaraBuilding1992
Madulce Guard Station and SiteSanta BarbaraBuilding1979
Minerva Club of Santa MariaSanta MariaBuilding1984
Mission La Purísima at ’Amuwu DistrictLompocDistrict2023
Mission Santa Ines NHLSolvangDistrict1999
Mission de la Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima SiteLompocSite1978
Painted CaveSanta BarbaraSite1972
Point Conception Light StationSanta BarbaraDistrict1981
Point Sal AtajePoint Sal HighlandsDistrict2002
Rattlesnake Canyon BridgeSanta BarbaraStructure2017
Royal Theater (Additional Documentation)GuadalupeBuilding2022
SS YANKEE BLADELompocSite1991
Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraBuilding2025
San Marcos RanchoSanta BarbaraSite1979
San Miguel Island Archeological DistrictSanta BarbaraDistrict1979
Santa Barbara ClubSanta BarbaraBuilding2019
Santa Barbara County Courthouse NHLSanta BarbaraBuilding1981
Santa Barbara Island Archeological DistrictSanta BarbaraDistrict1979
Santa Barbara Mission NHLSanta BarbaraBuilding1966
Santa Barbara PresidioSanta BarbaraDistrict1973
Santa Barbara Veterans Memorial BuildingSanta BarbaraBuilding2016
Santa Cruz Island Archeological District (Additional Documentation)Santa BarbaraDistrict1980
Santa Cruz Island Archeological District (Boundary Increase)Santa BarbaraDistrict2021
Santa Rosa Island Archeological DistrictSanta Rosa IslandDistrict2022
Sexton, Joseph and Lucy Foster, HouseSanta BarbaraDistrict1992
Southern Pacific Train DepotSanta BarbaraBuilding2006
Space Launch Complex 10 NHLLompocStructure1986
St. Vincent Orphanage and School BuildingSanta BarbaraBuilding1982
Steedman Estate NHLMontecitoBuilding1987
Stow HouseGoletaBuilding2000
US Post Office-Santa Barbara MainSanta BarbaraBuilding1985
USCGC MCCULLOCH (coast guard cutter) ShipwreckConceptionSite2021
Val VerdeSanta BarbaraDistrict1995
Virginia HotelSanta BarbaraBuilding2000

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Santa Barbara was formed in 1850 (1850-02-18) from unknown / original county.

SANTA BARBARA created from non-county area.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Santa Barbara County population from 1850 to 2020 (Census historical series).

448k225k1,1851850188019201940196020002020
18501860188019001920194019501960198020002020
1,1853,5439,51318,93441,09770,55598,220168,962298,694399,347448,229

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

14 cemeteries and 11 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 14 of 14 listed
NameLatLon
Calvary Cemetery34.44333-119.74764
Carpinteria Cemetery34.41153-119.53987
Goleta Cemetery34.44114-119.78055
Guadalupe Cemetery34.95827-120.57489
La Patera Catholic Cemetery34.44035-119.77435
Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery34.6297-120.44876
Los Alamos Cemetery34.73234-120.28115
Oak Hill Cemetery34.63407-120.11156
Ontiveros Cemetery34.8897-120.23348
Ryon Memorial Park34.63803-120.46765
San Ramon Chapel Cemetery34.84767-120.2407
Santa Barbara Cemetery34.41888-119.6554
Santa Maria Cemetery District34.93481-120.426
Solvang Cemetery34.60171-120.14419
Historical populated places — 11 of 11
NameLatLon
Acorn34.65276-120.49322
Ahwin34.46027-120.02431
Jalama34.51026-120.49905
Kunuqug34.44999-120.47183
Mishopshnow34.39222-119.52179
Mission La Purisima34.70194-120.44722
Orella34.46249-120.05098
Palmer34.82915-120.3221
Point Sal Landing34.89851-120.64408
Roadamite34.84387-120.32599
Shisholop34.45832-120.44405

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 Santa Barbara County, California

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