BlockFrom the record
One of 42 National Register listings published here for Santa Cruz County · listed in 1985 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
US Post Office-Santa Cruz Main
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. 7 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1948.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Listed as. US Post Office--Santa Cruz Main - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
- Address. 850 Front St., Santa Cruz, 95060
- When was it listed? January 1985
- Category. building
- Also known as. US Post Office in California 1900-1941 TR
- Census division. Santa Cruz
- National Register reference number. 85000139 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1948 to 1974The ground this property stands on, surveyed 26 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Fires near this property
454 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 454 fires within 5 miles of US Post Office-Santa Cruz Main between 1992 and 2020, burning about 179 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 59 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 224 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 66 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 59 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 33 |
| Smoking | 31 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 9 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | P.G.&E.#14 |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | OAK |
| 6 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | EMPIRE |
| 30 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 24 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of US Post Office-Santa Cruz Main: 13 past producers, 6 occurrences, 4 producers, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Clay, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Cowell Lime & Cement Co | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Pacific Cement and Aggregate Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Limestone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Bachellor Ranch Quarry | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Decomposed Granite Pit | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Quarry | Granite | Occurrence | ||
| Stribling Mine | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Producer | ||
| Twin Lakes Beach | Gold | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
17 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Cruz, the town this property stands in, in 17 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 flood, 3 tornado, 3 hail, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2012 | Heavy Rain | Santa Cruz | 1 killed, $5,000 | A 35 year old man crashed his Volkswagon Touareg on the onramp to southbound Highway 1 at State Park Drive about 12:45 am. |
| January 2017 | Hail | Santa Cruz | $5,000,000 | Damage dollar amounts is a low estimate. Impacts are not fully known, but any individual car crash would likely exceed this amount. |
| February 1998 | Flash Flood | Santa Cruz | $250,000 | no account filed |
| December 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Santa Cruz | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2012 | Heavy Rain | Santa Cruz | $3,500 | Heavy rain brought the San Lorenzo River close to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Rushing water ripped apart a wooden staircase that goes down to the beach. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Santa Cruz | $10 | The Cypress Point Apartments at Felix Street in Santa Cruz flooded as a result of Neary Lagoon overflowing. Eight units were reported flooded, with five of those being occupied at the time. Report courtesy KION-TV Monterey-Salinas and KPIX-TV San Francisco. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Santa Cruz | $10 | Standing water was reported across all lanes of Northbound California 1 at Morrissey Boulevard. |
| January 2024 | Flood | Santa Cruz | $10 | Street flooding was reported near High Street in Santa Cruz. |
| January 2017 | Hail | Santa Cruz | $10 | Pea sized hail reported by spotter. |
| December 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Santa Cruz | - | The weather station at the O'Neill Sea Odyssey near Santa Cruz Harbor reported a gust of 91 mph. Damage to boats was reported within the harbor. |
| January 2020 | Hail | Santa Cruz | - | Video on twitter showing small hail in Santa Cruz. |
| January 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Santa Cruz | - | Waterspout moved onshore along West Cliff Drive, just west of Woodrow Ave. As it moved onshore, it picked up a construction sign, and tossed it into the mailbox across the street. It also topped two agave cacti in the driveway, before hitting two trees, stripping several small and large limbs off of these trees before dissipating. |
| January 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Santa Cruz | - | Waterspout crossed the Santa Cruz Wharf, striking the Dolphin Restaurant and removing approximately 35 percent of its roof. The tornado also moved several picnic tables a few feet from their original position. The Dolphin general manager said that it felt like an earthquake struck the building at the peak of the lunch hour, but that the tornado dissipated shortly after striking the wharf. |
| January 2019 | Debris Flow | Santa Cruz | - | A landslide has closed south bound Bay Ave from Nobel Drive to Escalona Drive. |
| January 2018 | Flood | Santa Cruz | - | Large amount of water reported in roadway of SR1 N and Morrissey. |
| January 2017 | Flood | Santa Cruz | - | Flooding along SR hwy 17 8 to 10 inches on the road. |
| January 2017 | Debris Flow | Santa Cruz | - | Tree down and heavy debris/mud slide across entire roadway. |
Maps showing this location
7 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:24000 - 8 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Veterans Memorial Building | under 500 feet | 1992 |
| Bank of Santa Cruz County | 0.1 miles | 1982 | |
 | Neary-Rodriguez Adobe | 0.1 miles | 1975 |
 | Octagon Building | 0.2 miles | 1971 |
| Mission Hill Area Historic District | 0.2 miles | 1976 | |
 | A. J. Hinds House | 0.3 miles | 1983 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 85000139 in Record Group 79. |
| Santa Cruz County | All 42 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.