Do you know of California ???
This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about California. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with California.
Our sources for California (see Mentions and References below) indicate that it was a community with a post office by the same name. Unfortunately our sources aren't clear about the location of California other than they indicate that California would be found somewhere in Harrison County, Iowa.
From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1883 and closed in 1955.
This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.
Part of the difficulty in identifying whether a name is a post office or a community lies with how Post Offices were named. We've prepared an article with our understanding of how post offices were named: Naming of Post Offices.
Communities Also Named California ...
We found twenty communities that share the name California.
Within Iowa, the name California is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another twenty communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twenty communities, nineteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- Paulding County
- Please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of California [Paulding County].
- Kansas
- Coffey County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of California [Coffey County].
- Kentucky
- Campbell County
- Please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of California [Campbell County].
- Louisiana
- Madison Parish
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of California [Madison Parish].
- Maine
- Aroostook County
- Please visit our profile page for the Maine community of California [Aroostook County].
- Maryland
- Saint Mary's County
- Please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of California [Saint Mary's County].
- Wicomico County
- Please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of California [Wicomico County].
- Michigan
- Branch County
- Please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of California [Branch County].
- Missouri
- Moniteau County
- Please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of California [Moniteau County].
- North Carolina
- Dare County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of California [Dare County].
- Hertford County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of California [Hertford County].
- Madison County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of California [Madison County].
- Pitt County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of California [Pitt County].
- Ohio
- Hamilton County
- Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of California [Hamilton County].
- Ontario
- Please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of California.
- Pennsylvania
- Bucks County
- Please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of California [Bucks County].
- Luzerne County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of California [Luzerne County].
- Montour County
- Please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of California [Montour County].
- Washington County
- Please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of California [Washington County].
- Virginia
- Rockbridge County
- Please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of California [Rockbridge County].
- Georgia
Miscellaneous References and Mentions for California ...
We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about California:
Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>
Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.
A note taken from the Shipper's Guide for California - Services available: had a Post Office, Railroad Station, Express Office
Rand McNally Map of Iowa (1911)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.
More Orphans in Harrison County ...
Can you help?
As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Harrison County.
| Bigler's Grove | Needmore |
| Fontainbleau | Ojedo |
| Old Saint Johns | |
| Howsier | |
| Raglan | |
| Jeddo City | Reeder's Mills |
| Mount Norris | Valley View |
| Mount Pisgah | |
| Yazoo |
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that California could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <2> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |