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History · Boston

Boston’s post office opened in 1831, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1949 on.

1831first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Boston began

When was Boston founded?

1831

The Boston post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 253195 years
Founding year: the first Boston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Boston’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 Boston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1831: 195 years of Boston.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Boston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Boston’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
Timeline

Boston, 1831 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Boston post office opens
  3. 1899Born hereHenry Pierson Crowe is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Boston, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Boston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Boston is a census-designated place in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 census, Boston had a population of 253. Boston is along I-65; its ZIP code is 40107. Boston is the home of Mount Moriah Baptist Church, organized in 1802. During 1929–1933, Mount Moriah was pastored by James L. Sullivan, who went on to be the president of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now Lifeway) and then president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Mount Moriah Baptist Church is a member of the Nelson County Baptist Association, Kentucky Baptist Convention, and Southern Baptist Convention. The earliest records of the church are lost, but it is believed that Mount Moriah Baptist was first cons…

Its first post office opened in 1831. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 266 to 253 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Boston on the map, 1949 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Boston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Boston on the 1949 USGS mapBoston on the 1967 USGS mapBoston on the 1981 USGS map1949Shepherdsville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Boston.

Questions about Boston’s history

What year was Boston founded?

The Boston post office opened in 1831, 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 →
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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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.