Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Sunny Side

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 · Sunny Side

Sunny Side’s post office opened in 1871

Most of Sunny Side was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

How Sunny Side began

When was Sunny Side founded?

1871

The Sunny Side post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 42 in 18802020 census: 203155 years
Founding year: the first Sunny Side post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sunny Side’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sunny Side’s collection

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

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

Sunny Side, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 338

Peaked at 338 in 1980; 203 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Sunny Side came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sunny Side.

Read it all →

A post office called Sunny Side was established in 1871. The name "Sunny Side" was commendatorily applied to this place. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Sunny Side as a town in 1897. Sunny Side was disincorporated in 2023.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sunny Side, 1871 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Sunny Side post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 338
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Sunny Side on the map, 1965 to 1973

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

Sunny Side on the 1965 USGS mapSunny Side on the 1973 USGS map1965Griffin North 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 Sunny Side.

Famous people

Famous people close to Sunny Side

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

See all →

Questions about Sunny Side’s history

What year was Sunny Side founded?

The Sunny Side post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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.