The Sunbright post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pine Top (1856) and Stapleton (1868), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 519146 years
Founding year: the first Sunbright post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Sunbright’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Sunbright area was first settled in the early 19th century. It was originally known as "Pine Top", but was renamed "Stapleton" after the Staples family set up the town's first post office in the mid-19th century. When the railroad was constructed through the area in 1879, the Stapleton depot was named "Sunbright," and the name was eventually applied to the entire town.
In 1916, an oil field was discovered in the hills immediately west of Sunbright, and the city thrived for several years as an oil shipping hub. An oil well was in operation within a year, and 15 wells were in operation in the Sunbright area by 1927.
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), Wikipedia, 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.
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