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History · Tennant

Tennant dates to 1921, and 69% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 2000.

1921founded
0on the National Register
69%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Tennant began

When was Tennant founded?

1921

Tennant dates its founding to 1921 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 2000.

First census: 63 in 20002020 census: 63105 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1922.The full story ↓

What stands out about Tennant’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Tennant are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Tennant’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tennant’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tennant’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Tennant came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tennant.

Read it all →

The town was founded in 1921, and named after John Tennant, an official for the Long Bell Lumber logging company, which ran logging operations in the area until the 1950s. At its peak, Tennant had over 1,000 residents in summer, and boasted a hotel, pool hall, barber shop, hospital, store, and maintenance facilities for six logging locomotives used to carry timber between the forests and the large sawmill at Weed. Long Bell ended operations at Tennant in 1955 and donated the townsite to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who then sold it to investors who unsuccessfully attempted to turn it into an artist colony. By 1962 the entire town was owned by one individual, Clarence Bullock, who intended to make Tennant a retirement community and who credited the cool, dry, sunny climate with restoring his health. The earliest residents of Tennant held regular reunions until 1978, and since then T…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Tennant, 1921 to 1957

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1921
    FoundingTennant is established
  3. 1922Post officeThe Tennant post office opens
  4. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1957Post officeThe Tennant post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Tennant on the map, 1950 to 2001

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tennant. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Tennant on the 1950 USGS mapTennant on the 1988 USGS mapTennant on the 2001 USGS map1950Bray sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tennant.

People over time

Tennant, census by census

020002020Peak: 63

Between 41 and 63 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tennant’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Tennant had its own post office from 1922 to 1957.

Tennant
1922–1957
19201970today
1cemetery inside Tennant
Tennant

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Tennant’s history

What year was Tennant founded?

In 1921, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Tennant’s post office opened in 1922, and the census of 2000 counted 63 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.