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–Not graded
History · Porter

Porter’s post office opened in 1889, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1941 on.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Porter’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Porter began

When was Porter founded?

1889

The Porter post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 204137 years
Founding year: the first Porter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Porter’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Porter’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPorter, Washington: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Porter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Porter.

Read it all →

Porter was named after Fairchild Porter, who settled in the area around 1860. The Sharon Grange, located in Oakville, began in the Porter community as the Porter Grange No. 800 in 1923.

Much of Porter was destroyed by fire on January 31, 1924. Porter Saloon was re-built later that same year. When it re-opened in 1933 following the repeal of Prohibition, it was one of the first establishments to receive a liquor license in the state of Washington.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Porter, 1889 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Porter post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archivePorter, Washington
  5. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1970Post officeThe Porter post office closes
By decade

Porter, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Porter, Washington1910Porter, Washington
1920s–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
On the map

Porter on the map, 1941 to 1986

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

Porter on the 1941 USGS mapPorter on the 1953 USGS mapPorter on the 1986 USGS map1941Ford 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 Porter.

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.

Porter, Washington
Retake this viewPorter, Washington, 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Porter’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Porter had its own post office from 1889 to 1970.

Porter
1889–1970
18801950today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

MaloneIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Porter’s history

What year was Porter founded?

The Porter post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (1), Wikipedia, 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.