Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Sumner

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Sumner

Sumner’s post office opened in 1874, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Sumner High School. Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1900.

1874first post office
1on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Sumner began

When was Sumner founded?

1874

The Sumner post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 333 in 19002020 census: 445152 years
Founding year: the first Sumner post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sumner’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 Sumner are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sumner’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Sumner, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020340 in 1940Low: 193

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Sumner came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sumner.

Read it all →

The community was named after John C. "Jack" Sumner, the original owner of the town site. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Sumner as a town in 1883.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sumner, 1874 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Sumner post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 445
By decade

Sumner, decade by decade

Today11 recent
US82WB, Sumner city limit2024US82WB, Sumner city limitWorth County Fire Station No 82014Worth County Fire Station No 8Sunoco2014SunocoSumner Water Tower2014Sumner Water TowerSumner Post Office2014Sumner Post OfficeSumner City Limit, US82wb2014Sumner City Limit, US82wbSumner City Hall2014Sumner City HallBossy Belles Cafe2014Bossy Belles CafeBobcat Creek RV Park2014Bobcat Creek RV ParkSumner High School2012Sumner High SchoolGAMap-doton-Sumner2005GAMap-doton-Sumner
On the map

Sumner on the map, 1973 to 1981

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

Sumner on the 1973 USGS mapSumner on the 1981 USGS map1973Sumner sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Sumner

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1996
Sumner High School
Sumner High School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

T-Plan1
Sumner High SchoolT-Plan

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Sumner

Nobody well known was born in Sumner itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Ray CharlesAmerican singer, pianist and songwriter · b. 1930
Alice CoachmanAmerican high jumper · b. 1923
Angelo TaylorAmerican track and field athlete · b. 1978
Harry JamesAmerican trumpeter, big band leader · b. 1916
Phillip PhillipsAmerican singer · b. 1990
Sue Monk KiddNovelist · b. 1948
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Sumner’s post office has been open since 1874.

Gone or out of use
Sumner Consolidated Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Sumner
Sumner

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

Questions about Sumner’s history

What year was Sumner founded?

The Sumner post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sumner?

One place: the Sumner High School (listed 1996).

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 Wikimedia Commons (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.