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Fort Simcoe State ParkFort Simcoe State Park · Photo: James W. Rosenthal · Public domain
–Not graded
History · White Swan

White Swan’s post office opened in 1910, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1990.

1910first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From White Swan’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How White Swan began

When was White Swan founded?

1910

The White Swan post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,669 in 19902020 census: 789116 years
Founding year: the first White Swan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about White Swan’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Mystery photos6 old photos have no date. Neighbors can guess the decade.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start White Swan’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo6 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewIndian Methodist Episcopal Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How White Swan came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of White Swan.

Read it all →

White Swan is an unincorporated community located on the Yakama Indian Reservation, presumably named after Chief White Swan of the Yakamas around the start of the 20th century. The town was on the Mt Adams Highway (an overland road between Yakima and The Dalles beginning in the 1850s) between Union Gap and Fort Simcoe. In September 1921, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) opened the Yakima Indian Christian Mission. In 1967, the former childcare facilities of the Mission were leased to the Sundown M Corporation. Using the registered cattle brand of the Mission (from the years it owned cattle), the Sundown M Ranch began serving recovering alcoholics in 1968. Pacific Power & Light Company first brought electricity to the community in 1928. The White Swan Library (a branch of the Yakima Valley Regional library) was established in 1947. It was moved to a donated facility in 1969…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

White Swan, 1891 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1891Born hereNipo T. Strongheart is born here
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910Post officeThe White Swan post office opens
  5. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

White Swan, decade by decade

Date unknown6 to date
Indian Methodist Episcopal ChurchDate?Indian Methodist Episcopal ChurchFort Simcoe, Fort Simcoe RoadDate?Fort Simcoe, Fort Simcoe RoadFort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadDate?Fort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadFort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadDate?Fort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadFort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadDate?Fort Simcoe, Officer's Quarters, Fort Simcoe RoadFort Simcoe, Commandant's House & Blockhouse, Fort Simcoe RoadDate?Fort Simcoe, Commandant's House & Blockhouse, Fort Si…
On the map

White Swan on the map, 1958 to 1985

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

White Swan on the 1958 USGS mapWhite Swan on the 1985 USGS map1958White Swan 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 White Swan.

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.

Indian Methodist Episcopal Church
Retake this viewIndian Methodist Episcopal Church

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

White Swan, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,00020002020Peak: 3,033

Between 789 and 3,033 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

White Swan’s post office has been open since 1910.

Gone or out of use
Hitchcock Airstripairport
1cemetery inside White Swan
Saint Marys

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

Questions about White Swan’s history

What year was White Swan founded?

The White Swan post office opened in 1910, 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 the Library of Congress (6), 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.