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Sumas Historical Society and Museum

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Sumas Historical Society and Museum

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Sumas Historical Society and Museum, 114 2nd Street, Sumas, WA.

06/03/2026

Does anyone remember this home located next to the Letterlock building on Cherry Street? It was torn down in 2013 due to the cost of repairs but rumor has it that in the past there was an attempt to make this an artist co-op. What do you you think? Would an artist co-op in Sumas be a good idea? What other businesses do you think would be a great asset here?

05/30/2026

Be on the lookout for the newly unveiled BNSF locomotives commemorating America's 250th Birthday. BNSF advised us that there is a chance to see one in Sumas over the next few months so keep an eye out! There are only 3 in the country!
Rail service reached Sumas in the late 1800's and throughout time has morphed from the SLS&E (Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad) to BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe). The Sumas line was historically important because it connected U.S. railroads with Canadian railways at the border. :) 🇺🇸 🇨🇦

05/27/2026

Meet Miriam Mathers (maiden name Miriam Davidson).
Some of you may have heard of this extraordinary woman as she was quite well known for decades and her story became even more popular after her death.
She was known as "The Goat Woman" and Sumas, if you can believe it, was a small part of her story.
Miriam was born in Nebraska in 1883 and later trained as a registered nurse in Iowa. In 1917, she married Thomas Mathers, and the couple lived in Wyoming, where Miriam homesteaded and raised livestock. After separating from her husband, suffering the loss of several children in childhood and later the death of her adult son Charles in 1941 Miriam decided to begin a new life in Alaska.
In 1943, at nearly 60 years old, she left Wyoming with a homemade covered wagon that she built herself, horses, goats, and a cat named Tubby.
She eventually made her way to Sumas and attempted to cross the border in 1946. Border guards officially denied her passage because of livestock and paperwork restrictions but the local newspaper reported that she was, in part, unofficially denied because "no white woman had ever made the overland journey".
Refusing to give up, Miriam later traveled to Alaska by steamship and eventually homesteaded on the Kenai Peninsula, where she became known as “The Goat Woman.”
She died in Alaska in 1950, but her unique journey remains one of the more unusual pioneer stories connected to Sumas.

05/25/2026

In honor of Memorial Day we'd like to commemorate Wendell H. Fidele who died April 16, 1945 in the sinking of the destroyer the U.S.S. Pringle during World War II.
Wendell was born October 28th, 1921. He was a member of the Nooksack Tribe, graduated from Mount Baker High School and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After his death a memorial plaque including his name was placed at the Whatcom County Courthouse and in Honolulu Hawaii at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In May 1980 American Legion Post No. 83 was created and named after Wendell.
Wendell left home to serve in the United States Navy during World War II and never came back. Yet somehow, he is still here. His name has remained on memorials, in legion halls, in the newspapers and in everyday conversations. To us, that is what remembrance is really supposed to be. Refusing to let someone disappear completely and always maintaining honor for those who wanted to do nothing more than protect others.
Happy Memorial Day!
🇺🇸 💜

05/23/2026

Ahhhhhh, the 90's. What a great decade. These photos are from the Nooksack Valley High School Year book of 1991. Recognize anyone?
:)

05/20/2026

Ladies and Gentlemen the 1960's Sumas Bowling Team! :)

05/17/2026

Happy Sunday everyone!
As Sumas marks it's 135th anniversary in June and the United States approaches its 250th birthday in July we thought it would be a great idea to showcase some images far beyond the timelines we usually celebrate. Let’s travel back to 240 million years ago.
Long before our town or country were here the land we stand on had already witnessed billions of years of cataclysmic environmental events and prehistoric creatures we can barely imagine (even with the help of technology lol).
That history is important and it helps to enrich our current celebrations. It reminds us that we are part of something vast and enduring. That our respect and appreciation for our community and our country is influenced and shaped by millions of years of change, resilience, and renewal (oh and dinosaurs). :)
As we honor these anniversaries, we honor the land itself as the first storyteller and in doing so we wanted to feature some photos of the land where Sumas is located and how it looked hundreds of millions of years ago compared to today.
If you'd like to look up other parts of prehistoric earth please visit https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth #170
This website is what was recommended by the Smithsonian based on the work of famed paleogeographer, Christopher Scotese.

05/13/2026

Good morning,
We'd like to show you this lovely photo from WAY back. 1906 to be exact. 120 years ago, this was the Sumas 8th grade graduating class. These kids were born in 1892 and 1893. :)

Front Row - Left to right, Guy Record, Lora Hughes, Agnes Fitzgerald, Mary Bonds, Nora Fitzgerald, Annie Fry, Eugene Roberts, Second Row: Ernest Myers, Louise Lambert, Beatrice Bertrand, Grace McBurney, Maggie McCallister, Miss Chelgren (Teacher), Ina Hughes, Prof. Tom Brown, Gene Slaughter

05/10/2026

Happy Mother's Day!
We'd like to regale you with the story of a Sumas mom from the 19th century. Below is Florence Parkinson and her husband George. Now this story is according to the Brock family in collaboration with the Nooksack Valley Nostalgia project.

In 1890 Florence arrived in Whatcom dressed in a bustled dress with laced mutton chop sleeves, a giant feathered hat and slippers to match carrying a parasol with a red feathered rim. She had a red satin purse with a ten year old daughter dressed in matching red in tow. Supposedly she was not impressed with the Fairhaven Hotel.

The next day Mrs. Parkinson went to the train station to inquire about travel to Sumas. The ticket agent told her that there was a locomotive leaving later that day but it had no passenger cars with it. She was insistence that he would simply have to secure a passenger car for her and her daughter. While the agent was intimidated by her mannerisms he asked her to wait while he checked with his boss. After a while he returned to tell her that there were no passenger cars available at that time. The only way to get on the train was to ride an empty flatcar, which was not appropriate for a lady and her child.

She simply paid for passage on the flatcar to Sumas with her trunks and luggage loaded in advance. She and her daughter were seated on their luggage and journeyed that way to Sumas. Notification of her arrival came by telegraph and the town folks eagerly awaited her arrival at the railroad station.

The locomotive blasted the whistle and slowed to a stop with Lady Parkinson seated in the middle of the flatcar as if she was royalty. Once the train stopped, a group of men pushed a series of boxes up to the car making a set of stairs. She calmly closed her parasol and stepped down in her bright red dress. Her daughter followed holding the trailing hem of her mother's dress. Mrs. Florence Parkinson had arrived and made her mark on Sumas.
Like all moms tend to do :)

Happy Mother's Day!

05/06/2026

In 1975 the Sumas Library was located in the city hall building. This is librarian, Penny Leenders giving a tour in the first photo. The next photo was taken in 1990 doing a tour in the newly opened library in it's current location.
We've also included a recent photo of Penny with current museum volunteer Carl D. Crouse, Author doing a podcast about the history of the area. :)

Address

114 2nd Street
Sumas, WA
98295

Opening Hours

10am - 2pm

Website

facebook.com

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