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History · Sumner Township

23% of Sumner Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Tunnel Mill. Below: maps from 1955 on.

1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Sumner Township’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 Sumner Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sumner Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sumner Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sumner Township’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Elkhorn
1855–1863
Washington
1856–1903
Hamilton
1863–1904
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HamiltonWashington
Gone or out of use
Flying A AirportairportHamilton Post Officepost officeWashington Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sumner Township
Hamilton CongregationalMilletSumnerWashington

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Sumner Township, in brief

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

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 458 to 482 (+5%).

Timeline

Sumner Township, 1855 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Elkhorn post office opens
  3. 1856Post officeThe Washington post office opens
  4. 1863Post officeThe Elkhorn post office closes
  5. 1863Post officeThe Hamilton post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1903Post officeThe Washington post office closes
  8. 1904Post officeThe Hamilton post office closes
  9. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Sumner Township on the map, 1955 to 1974

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

Sumner Township on the 1955 USGS mapSumner Township on the 1974 USGS map1955Stewartville 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 Sumner Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Sumner Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Tunnel Mill
Tunnel Mill
Buildings
All 1 listings
Tunnel MillBuilding · listed 1975

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Jordan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpring Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRacine TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHigh Forest TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sumner Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Sumner Township?

One place: the Tunnel Mill (listed 1975).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.