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History · Sumner

Sumner’s post office opened in 1894, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Sumner School. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1972 on.

1894first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sumner’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sumner began

When was Sumner founded?

1894

The Sumner post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 35132 years
Founding year: the first Sumner post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sumner’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sumner’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Sumner, in brief

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

Sumner is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in Noble County, Oklahoma, United States, ten miles east of Perry and two miles north of U.S. Route 64. Established prior to statehood along the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, the post office opened on May 23, 1894. The town was named for Henry T. Sumner, a businessman from Perry. Per the 1905 Oklahoma Territorial Census, Sumner had sixty-four residents. The post office closed July 27, 1957. As of the 2020 census, Sumner had a population of 35. At its peak the town had a bank, post office, two churches, a school, a grain elevator, and a train stop. Currently, the only significant buildings still in use are the Bapti…

Its first post office opened in 1894.

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

Timeline

Sumner, 1850 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-25, ED 52…
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-1 - ED 52-30
  4. 1894Post officeThe Sumner post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1952Born hereDon Calhoun is born here
  7. 1957Post officeThe Sumner post office closes
  8. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Sumner, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1880s2 items
1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-25, ED 52-26, ED 52-27, ED 52-28, ED 52…18501940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Oklah…1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-1 - ED 52-3018801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Oklahoma - No…
1890s–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
Today1 recent
Sumner OK2014Sumner OK
On the map

Sumner on the map, 1972 to 1990

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

Sumner on the 1972 USGS mapSumner on the 1990 USGS map1972Morrison sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sumner.

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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-25, ED 52-26, ED 52-27, ED 52-28, ED 52…
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Oklahoma - Noble County - ED 52-25, ED 52-26, ED 52-27, ED 52-28, ED 52…, 1850

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 · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sumner

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1996
Sumner School
Sumner School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Commercial1
Sumner SchoolCommercial

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Sumner had its own post office from 1894 to 1957.

Sumner
1894–1957
18901960today

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

Questions about Sumner’s history

What year was Sumner founded?

The Sumner post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sumner?

One place: the Sumner School (listed 1996).

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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.