Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 127 buildings.
The Auburn post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1865. Another post office, Black Lick (1860), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Auburn is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Kentucky towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kentucky town has 29.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Auburn’s 725 sits above most of its state (94% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 130 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Auburn’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Auburn.
Originally called Federal Grove, the present name dates from the 1860s; it was named after Auburn, New York, the previous residence of several early settlers. It was originally incorporated by the state assembly in 1865, and reincorporated in 1878.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Auburn’s post office has been open since 1862. Another post office, Black Lick, 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).
The Auburn post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1865.
Auburn is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Three places: the G. W. Davidson House and Bank (listed 1982), the McCutchen Meadows (1984) and the Auburn Historic District (1994).
21% of Auburn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1967.
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).
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
