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History · Sorento

Sorento’s post office opened in 1882, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Sorentonews · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Sorento began

When was Sorento founded?

1882

The Sorento post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 538 in 18902020 census: 429144 years
Founding year: the first Sorento post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sorento’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 Sorento are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Sorento’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,018 in 1910; 429 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sorento’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sorento’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
The story

How Sorento came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sorento.

Read it all →

Sorento was founded as a village in 1882. The town was laid out and platted on August 15, 1882, by August H. Scharf, a local farmer and businessman, and his father, William Scharf. They named the town Sorento after Sorrento, Florida, a town they had once visited. The town grew quickly and by the end of 1883 there were over 500 residents.

The Sorento Coal Mine opened in 1883 and was in operation until March 31, 1914.

ChaptersHistoric bridge

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Sorento, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,018

Peaked at 1,018 in 1910; 429 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Timeline

Sorento, 1882 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Sorento post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 1,018
  5. 1920Born hereEsther Snyder is born here
By decade

Sorento, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Downtown2014Downtown
Every building

Sorento, building by building, 1899–1906

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Sorento fire insurance map, 1899, sheet 11899Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Questions about Sorento’s history

What year was Sorento founded?

The Sorento post office opened in 1882, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.