Sumner dates to 1853, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #46 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Ryan House, the Herbert Williams House and the Dieringer School. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1875.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sumner’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sumner is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Sumner’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 Sumner’s 4.7 sits above most of its state (75% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). Two sources give 1853.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Sumner’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Sumner’s post office has been open since 1875. Another post office, Dieringer, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Sumner
1875–today
Dieringer
1892–1957
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BenroyCrystal Spring Mobile Home EstatesDieringerDouble A Mobile ManorSummer Villa Estates Mobile Home ParkSummerville Estates Mobile Home Park
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sumner
SumnerWoodlawn Abbey Mausoleum and Columbarium
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Sumner, building by building, 1890–1919
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.
Sumner was founded in 1853 as Stuck Junction and platted in 1883 by George H. Ryan, in anticipation of a stop on the Northern Pacific Railway. The town was named "Franklin" until 1891, when the Post Office Department requested that the name be changed to avoid confusion with similarly named towns. The name of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner was chosen for the town after a lottery.
Passages that mention Sumner, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Pierce County Washington1927 · page 57Read the page →
Read the text
His wife came to Pierce county in 1852, at the age of ten years, and the donation claim which her father took up was the present site of the town of Sumner. Our subject’s father was long engaged in the hop business at Sumner, but in 1898 moved to Yakima, where he is now living, being engaged in farming. The mother of our subject came to Washington in an early day with her parents, who located first at Spokane, and she later taught in the Sumner public schools.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pierce County Washington1927 · page 374Read the page →
Read the text
The Pacific Lumber Agency, whose head office is at Aberdeen, Washington, was organized in 1910, as a sales organization for groups of mills at Gray’s Harbor and Willapa Harbor. The plant at Sumner, which was established in September, 1922 specializes in the handling of short length lumber; also in taking the unfinished lumber and working it up into car material—this being the first instance in the United States where short length lumber has. been made a special product, Fifty men are employed in the factory at Sumner and the product is sold over the entire country, largely to the industrial trade, the Sumner plant having proven a very
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Sumner, 1853 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
In 1853, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Sumner’s post office opened in 1875, and the census of 1890 counted 580 people here.
How does Sumner rank for history?
Sumner is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Sumner?
Three places: the Ryan House (listed 1976), the Herbert Williams House (1984) and the Dieringer School (1997).
How old are the homes in Sumner?
13% of Sumner’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1922
1926
