Founding year: the first Bloomfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1819.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bloomfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bloomfield is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bloomfield’s overall grade.
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 Bloomfield’s 1,370 sits above most of its state (98% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 154 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1819 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 →
What stands out about Bloomfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community on the east fork of Simpson Creek originally grew up on sites purchased from Leven Powell's 2,000-acre (810 ha) land grant, which he received from the state of Virginia in 1779 and surveyed in 1781. The community on the east bank of the creek was known as Middlesburg when its first post office opened in 1803; the west bank was known as Gandertown from its sport of "ganderpulling". Dr. John Bemiss of Rochester, New York, had settled in the area in 1799; in 1817, he laid out the town and renamed it Bloomfield, supposedly after his wife's maiden name (Bloomer) and his daughter's married name (Merrifield). The post office adopted this name the next year, but, according to the state's Land Office, the town was still formally incorporated under the name Middlesburg in 1819.
The Bloomfield post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1819.
How does Bloomfield rank for history?
Bloomfield is more historic than 95% 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.
What is on the National Register in Bloomfield?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Walnut Groves Farm (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Bloomfield Historic District, with 148 contributing buildings. 154 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Bloomfield?
26% of Bloomfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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