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History · Sagamore

Sagamore’s post office opened in 1884, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and old-book passages.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sagamore’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sagamore began

When was Sagamore founded?

1884

The Sagamore post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 3,851142 years
Founding year: the first Sagamore post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sagamore’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18868 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1977. Watch Sagamore change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sagamore’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewKeith Car Manufacturing Company: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Sagamore on the map, 1886 to 1977

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

Sagamore on the 1886 USGS mapSagamore on the 1894 USGS mapSagamore on the 1921 USGS mapSagamore on the 1933 USGS mapSagamore on the 1940 USGS mapSagamore on the 1951 USGS mapSagamore on the 1967 USGS mapSagamore on the 1977 USGS map1886Plymouth 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 Sagamore.

The story so far

Sagamore, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sagamore yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Sagamore is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bourne in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, Sagamore had a population of 3,851. "Sagamore" was one of the words used by northeastern Native Americans to designate an elected chief or leader.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,623 to 3,851 (+6%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sagamore in 1890

Passages that mention Sagamore, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Williams at Sagamore, and soon after 1830 he built the schooner Caroline, on the knoll by the creek on Watson Freeman's land. Benjamin Burgess and Abner Ellis built the bark Fratiklin for the West India trade here about 1837; and the bark Lysander in 1842. Schooners and sloops were built on the ban…
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-18901890 · page 328Read the page →
Read the text

Williams at Sagamore, and soon after 1830 he built the schooner Caroline, on the knoll by the creek on Watson Freeman's land. Benjamin Burgess and Abner Ellis built the bark Fratiklin for the West India trade here about 1837; and the bark Lysander in 1842. Schooners and sloops were built on the banks of the stream below Keith's factory, and the canal is yet visible where they were compelled to cut across an elbow of the stream to float the vessel. Very many of the people of the town have followed the sea as shipmasters.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Sagamore, 1839 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1839Born hereGustavus Franklin Swift is born here
  3. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1915In the archiveKeith Car Manufacturing Company
  6. 1920In the archiveSagamore Highway Bridge
By decade

Sagamore, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s2 items
Keith Car Manufacturing Companyc. 1915Keith Car Manufacturing CompanySagamore Highway Bridge1920Sagamore Highway Bridge
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 6082006Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 608Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 6072006Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 607Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 6052006Massachusetts State Route 6A 050706 605Sagamore Christmas Tree Shop2005Sagamore Christmas Tree Shop
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Keith Car Manufacturing Company
Retake this viewKeith Car Manufacturing Company, c. 1915

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sagamore’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bourne9 historic placesA−Sandwich7 historic placesAPlymouth23 historic placesA

Questions about Sagamore’s history

What year was Sagamore founded?

The Sagamore post office opened in 1884, 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 (6), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.