Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the First Universalist Society of West Sumner and the Dudley's Corner School House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1800.
Sumner dates its founding to 1798 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1800.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sumner is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Maine towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Maine town has 15.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Sumner’s 23.7 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Sumner’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1840 and 1960, then more than doubled.
23 censuses, 1800–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sumner’s Wikipedia page.
Sumner had its own post office from 1811 to 1935. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Sumner.
Originally called West Butterfield Plantation, it was first settled in 1783 by Noah Bosworth from Plympton, Massachusetts. Most of the early settlers were Revolutionary soldiers from Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The town was incorporated by the General Court on June 13, 1798, and named for Increase Sumner, who was then the governor of Massachusetts.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sumner, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Paris (No. 4),* settled 1779, incorporated 1793, Porter (Portersfield),* settled 1784, incorporated 1807, Rumford (New Penacook),* settled 1777, incor. 1800, Sumner (West Butterfield), settled 1783, incor. 1798, Waterfordji settled 1775, incorporated 1797, 243 530 981
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
from Buckfield to Paris. The part set off included five lots of land in the first and second ranges, west division, and all the road leading from America Thayer's dwelling house northerly to the line of the town of Sumner. It was provided that they should take with them one-thirtieth part of the paupers of the town and that six ratable polls and $2700 be taken from the state valuation of Buckfield and added to Paris. The parties set off were to pay all taxes assessed upon them in Buckfield and their proportion (1-30) of the debt of the town. Provision was made, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tain. Elias Taylor, elsewhere mentioned, had heard it said that he had been left, while an infant, at the door of a well-to-do family, which had brought him up as one of their own. Many of his descendants at one period lived in the town of Sumner. John Irish, Jr., from Gorham, came to Bucktown about 1780, and settled on South Hill on Lot 6, adjoining Peter White's lot on the south. It was afterwards known as the Henry Hutchinson place. He died in 1805. His estate was appraised at £1400 —
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the meeting-house on the Flat, where Mr. Porter now lives j to this the north part of the town would 1 Bisbee-town includes the north-east part of Waterford. It was settled about 1825 by the Blsbees, who came from Sumner, Me.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereSamuel F. Hersey is born here
In the archiveBird's-eye View of West
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sumner. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sumner.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sumner’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1798, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Sumner’s post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1800 counted 330 people here.
Sumner is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the First Universalist Society of West Sumner (listed 2002) and the Dudley's Corner School House (2002).
22% of Sumner’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
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