Bremerton dates to 1891, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #21 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Navy Yard Puget Sound, a National Historic Landmark, and five historic districts with 51 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1910.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1890.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bremerton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bremerton is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #21 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bremerton’s overall grade.
Few Washington towns list much on the Register (a typical Washington town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bremerton’s 12.5 sits above most of its state (87% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 56 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1891.
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 Bremerton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Bremerton’s post office has been open since 1892. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Carlston
1890–1891
Charleston
1891–1928
Bremerton
1892–today
Sheridan
1901–1910
Manette
1902–1942
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bremerton JunctionCarrington Mobile Home ParkCharlestonEast BremertonJackson ParkKitsap Lake Mobile Home ParkMadrona PointManetteMarine DriveSheridanSheridan ParkWest Park
Gone or out of use
Ace QuarrymineAlpine Evergreen QuarrymineBremerton Airport QuarrymineKitsap QuarryminePort of Bremerton Quarrymine
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bremerton
Forest LawnIvy GreenWoodlawn Memorial Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Bremerton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bremerton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Bremerton is within the historical territory of the Suquamish people. The land was made available for non-Native settlement by the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. Bremerton was founded by German immigrant and real estate agent William Bremer in 1891. In that year, Navy Lieutenant Ambrose Barkley Wyckoff purchased approximately 190 acres (77 ha) of waterfront land on Sinclair Inlet. This land was owned by the Bremer family. Three years earlier, a U.S. Navy commission determined that Point Turner, between the protected waters of the Sinclair and Dyes inlets, would be the best site in the Pacific Northwest on which to establish a shipyard. Recognizing the large number of workers such a facility would employ, Bremer and his business partner and brother-in-law, Henry Hensel, purchased the undeveloped land near Point Turner at the inflated price of $200 per acre. In April 1891, Bremer arrang…
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bremerton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1937Port Orchard 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 Bremerton.
Every building
Bremerton, building by building, 1904–1925
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.
In 1891, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bremerton’s post office opened in 1890, and the census of 1910 counted 2,993 people here.
How does Bremerton rank for history?
Bremerton is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #21 of 285 in Washington. 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 Bremerton?
10 listings: 5 buildings and 5 historic districts with 51 contributing buildings. 56 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Bremerton?
19% of Bremerton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (10), Wikipedia, 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.
★ Landmark
1906
