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History · Adairville

Adairville’s post office opened in 1825, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1860.

1825first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Adairville began

When was Adairville founded?

1825

The Adairville post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 148 in 18602020 census: 837201 years
Founding year: the first Adairville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Adairville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Adairville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1916, drew every building in Adairville.Deep rootsA post office since 1825: 201 years of Adairville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Adairville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Adairville, building by building, 1893–1916

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.

Adairville fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 11893Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Adairville, 1808 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1808Born hereGeorge Washington Ewing is born here
  3. 1825Post officeThe Adairville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Adairville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Adairville.

Read it all →

Red River Meeting House was built in 1800 near the town and was the sight of the first religious camp meeting in the United States. It was the birthplace of the Second Great Awakening.

Adairville was settled in the late 18th century, and was originally known as "Dromgooles' Station". When a town was platted in 1818, its name was changed to "Adairsville" in honor the prominent Kentucky politician. Established on January 31, 1833, it was named for Governor John Adair and incorporated by the state assembly on February 7, 1871. The city was incorporated in 1833. The "s" had been dropped from the name by 1881.

In an 1806 duel in Adairville, future president Andrew Jackson killed attorney Charles Dickinson.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Adairville, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Adairville-square-ky2017Adairville-square-kyAdairville-post-office-ky2017Adairville-post-office-kyAdairville-Park-Square-ky2017Adairville-Park-Square-kyAdairville-KY591-ky2017Adairville-KY591-kyAdairville-Jackson-Dickinson-duel-marker-ky2017Adairville-Jackson-Dickinson-duel-marker-ky
On the map

Adairville on the map in 1951

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Adairville.

Adairville on the 1951 USGS map1951Adairville 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 Adairville.

People over time

Adairville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200190019502000Peak: 1,105

Between 148 and 1,105 people in every census since 1860.

16 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Questions about Adairville’s history

What year was Adairville founded?

The Adairville post office opened in 1825, 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 Wikimedia Commons (5), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.