Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1951 on and old-book passages.
The Sumner post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Canton (1882) and Lehigh (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sumner’s history is told.
Sumner had its own post office from 1876 to 1888. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sumner yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 798 to 699 (-12%).
Passages that mention Sumner, cut from the printed page as they were published.
children, Otelia and Elizabeth. They came directly to New Auburn, in Chip¬ pewa County, where they had friends. From there he drove into Barron County by ox team, and settled on a homestead of 80 acres of wild land in Sec¬ tion 31, Sumner Township, not far from the site of the old village of Sumner. He built a small frame house and a log barn, and started to clear the land. It was a year later before he got his first cow. At first he had little with which to carry on his farming operations. Grain was harvested with a cradle. Pro¬ visions were brought in afoot. The wife spun wool, knit socks, mittens and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A log schoolhouse was built in Sumner, in which Mrs. Thomas Gotham, now of Chetek, taught the first school. Soon afterwards a frame schoolhouse was erected. The first teacher In this building was Judge H. J.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Sumner. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sumner.
Nobody well known was born in Sumner itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sumner post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
