Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1900.
The Sunman post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sunman’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sunman.
A post office has been in operation at Sunman since 1833. John Sunman, an early postmaster, gave the place his name. Sunman began as a town in 1856 when the railroad was extended to that point.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sunman.
1958Sunman sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sunman.
Between 352 and 1,049 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sunman’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Sunman itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Sunman post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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, 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.
2016
