Most of Summit was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Bank of Summit. Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Summit post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Summit’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Summit is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Summit’s overall grade.
Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Summit’s 4.1 sits near the middle of its state (46% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Summit’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Summit, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Summit yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Summit is a town in Pike County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, Summit had a population of 1,505. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. The town originated as a railroad town and was named Summit because it was thought to be the highest point on the Illinois Central Railroad between New Orleans and Jackson, Tennessee. However, nearby Brookhaven has that distinction. It was the birthplace of the "Summit Trio", a group of three women artists in the 1960s.
Its first post office opened in 1856. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,705 to 1,505 (-12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Summit, 1856 to 2001
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Summit post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Summit rank for history?
Summit is more historic than 36% 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.
What is on the National Register in Summit?
One place: the Bank of Summit (listed 1983).
How old are the homes in Summit?
7% of Summit’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.
