Campbellsburg was laid out in 1849, when it was certain that the railroad would be built through that territory. It was originally called Buena Vista in commemoration of the Battle of Buena Vista, but was later renamed Campbellsburg for Robert Campbell, who platted an addition to the town in 1851.
The Campbellsburg post office has been in operation since 1852.
Passages that mention Campbellsburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Centennial history of Washington County, Indiana1916 · page 516Read the page →
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The first store was opened by Christopher Prow, Jr., in 1836, who ran it till his death in 1845, when his son Christopher, the third, took it in hand and continued it for some fifteen years, when he mo\ed to Campbellsburg. Prow was the first postmaster, in 1845. I" 1857 Elkana Craycraft opened a store at Rush creek. It changed hands a number of times, \\-hen W. G. Williams bought it in i860 and operated it successfullv for manv vears. He succeeded in establishing a postoffice here in 1871. David Halev opened a store at Haleysburg, in 1871, and also had a postoffice there.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Campbellsburg. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1957Campbellsburg 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 Campbellsburg.
People over time
Campbellsburg, census by census
Between 386 and 695 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Campbellsburg’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Campbellsburg’s history
What year was Campbellsburg founded?
In 1849, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Campbellsburg’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1880 counted 386 people here.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.
2016
