The story
Read it all →How Thurston came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Thurston.
The town was formed from the Town of Cameron in the year 1844.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Thurston
Thurston dates to 1813, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1926 on and the census since 1850.
1813founded
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Thurston began
When was Thurston founded?
1813
Thurston dates its founding to 1813 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
First census: 726 in 18502020 census: 1,253213 years
How historic is Thurston?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Thurston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thurston is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thurston’s overall grade.
Founding era1813, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194023.6% of homes (±6.9) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical NY town 12.3 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 60%
NewerOlder
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Thurston’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1813.
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 →
What stands out about Thurston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Thurston, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Thurston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1880 and 1940, then more than doubled.Deep rootsEstablished in 1813: 213 years of Thurston.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Thurston had its own post office from 1831 to 1903. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Thurston
South Thurston
Bonny Hill
Risingville
Merchantville
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bonny HillNorth ThurstonRisingvilleSouth Thurston
Gone or out of use
Aldrich SchoolschoolBeaton SchoolschoolGreen Hill SchoolschoolSeverence SchoolschoolShauger SchoolschoolSouth Hill Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Thurston
AldrichBonny HillRisingvilleThurston
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Thurston’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Thurston’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Thurston, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1940, then more than doubled.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Thurston’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Thurston in 1914
Passages that mention Thurston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Early history of Thurston County, Washington1914 · page 201Read the page →
Read the text
Robert Frost, or Judge Frost, as his friends best know this sturdy Pioneer, saikir, artizan, Indian fighter, merchant, capitalist, judge of the police court, holding office in Thurston County, has led a varied and, at times, exciting career. Born in Tunbridge Wells, England, in the year of 1825, the subject of this sketch grew to young manhood in Merrie England, going to school in London. Being apprenticed to learn the plasterer's trade, there was little in his early boyhood life
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Early history of Thurston County, Washington1914 · page 54Read the page →
Read the text
From 1873 to 1889, that period during which Washington remained a Territory, Olympia and Thurston County made slow progress. The location of a railroad terminus at Tacoma detracted greatly from the head of the Sound. Seattle made a
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
Thurston, 1813 to 1926
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1813FoundingThurston is established
- 1831Post officeThe Thurston post office opens
- 1846Post officeThe South Thurston post office opens
- 1853Post officeThe Bonny Hill post office opens
- 1865Post officeThe Bonny Hill post office closes
- 1870Post officeThe South Thurston post office closes
- 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 1,366
- 20th century
- 1903Post officeThe Thurston post office closes
- 1926
On 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 albumOn the map
Thurston on the map, 1926 to 1953
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Thurston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1926Woodhull sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Thurston.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Thurston
Nobody well known was born in Thurston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
J
James Tyler KentAmerican physician, homeopat · b. 1849
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Thurston’s history
What year was Thurston founded?
In 1813, according to Wikidata. Thurston’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1850 counted 726 people here.
How does Thurston rank for history?
Thurston is more historic than 60% 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.
How old are the homes in Thurston?
24% of Thurston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikipedia, 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.