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DHistory
History · Sammamish

Sammamish dates to 1999, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #216 of 285 in Washington. What drives it

Most of Sammamish was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Brandes House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 2000.

1999founded
1on the National Register
0.5%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sammamish’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sammamish began

When was Sammamish founded?

1999

Sammamish dates its founding to 1999 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 2000.

First census: 34,104 in 20002020 census: 67,45527 years

How historic is Sammamish?

D

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1888.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Sammamish’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sammamish is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #216 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sammamish’s overall grade.
Founding era1999, from Wikidata: founded 1945 or later, an older era than 2% of U.S. townsD−Homes built before 19400.5% of homes (±0.3) · typical WA town 4.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 0.2 per 10,000 residents · typical WA town 0.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 12%
NewerOlder
Washington towns of 2,500+ (285)Ahead of 24%

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 Sammamish’s 0.2 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1999.

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 Sammamish’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Sammamish, and 5 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sammamish’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewKiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Monahan, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
AdelaideInglewoodMint GrovePine LakeSahalee

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

The story

How Sammamish came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sammamish.

Read it all →

Lake Sammamish and the adjacent plateau has been Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, Sammamish, and Snohomish territory since the last Pleistocene glaciation, before contact with European people. They lived in longhouse villages in seven places on and near the coast of Sammamish Lake. Two of them were in present-day Sammamish.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sammamish, 1888 to 1999

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Monahan post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913In the archiveKiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff, and Shirley, Sammamish, Washington, April 13, 19…
  5. 1920In the archiveHouse overlooking the Sammamish River, Washington, ca. 1920
  6. 1926Post officeThe Monahan post office closes
  7. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1995Born hereMax Browne is born here
  9. 1999
    FoundingSammamish is established
By decade

Sammamish, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s3 items
Kiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff, and Shirley, Sammamish, Washington, April 13, 19131913Kiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff, and Shirley,…House overlooking the Sammamish River, Washington, ca. 1920c. 1920House overlooking the Sammamish River, Washington, ca…Railroad tracks along Lake Sammamish, Washington, ca. 1920c. 1920Railroad tracks along Lake Sammamish, Washington, ca.…
1930s–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
Today17 recent
2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammamish WA) 07372220242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammamish WA) 07370620242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammamish WA) 07365820242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammamish WA) 07365120242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 184813 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammamish WA) 08282720242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammamish WA) 08281920242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammamish WA) 08281020242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammam…2024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammamish WA) 08280220242024-06-01 Little Free Library Charter 152509 (Sammam…Sammamish, United States May 27, 2022 02-56-55 PM2022Sammamish, United States May 27, 2022 02-56-55 PMQaiQai2019QaiQaiKCM Gillig Phantom 34302019KCM Gillig Phantom 3430KCM XDE402018KCM XDE40James Rasmussen Athlete Baseball Player2013James Rasmussen Athlete Baseball PlayerLake2012LakeKokanee ebright creek lake2012Kokanee ebright creek lakePine lake2010Pine lakeSeattle from2008Seattle from
On the map

Sammamish on the map, 1950 to 1973

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

Sammamish on the 1950 USGS mapSammamish on the 1968 USGS mapSammamish on the 1973 USGS map1950Redmond 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 Sammamish.

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.

Kiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff, and Shirley, Sammamish, Washington, April 13, 1913
Retake this viewKiehl family with Drummond girls, Cliff, and Shirley, Sammamish, Washington, April 13, 1913, 1913

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sammamish

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Brandes House
Brandes House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Wrightian1
Usonian1
All 1 listings
Brandes HouseBuilding · listed 1994

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

People over time

Sammamish, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00065,00070,00075,00020002020Peak: 67,455

Between 34,104 and 67,455 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sammamish’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Issaquah4 historic placesC+Redmond3 historic placesCBellevue1 historic placeC

Questions about Sammamish’s history

What year was Sammamish founded?

In 1999, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Sammamish’s post office opened in 1888, and the census of 2000 counted 34,104 people here.

How does Sammamish rank for history?

Sammamish is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #216 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 Sammamish?

One place: the Brandes House (listed 1994).

How old are the homes in Sammamish?

0.5% of Sammamish’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1994.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (20), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.