Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #52 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
Most of Bowling Green was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. 67 places in town are on the National Register, among them ten historic districts with 405 buildings between them. Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1800.
Bowling Green dates its founding to 1798 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1800.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bowling Green is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #52 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Bowling Green’s 61.5 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 464 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Bowling Green’s post office has been open since 1802. Another post office, Far View, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Bowling Green.
The first Europeans known to have reached the area carved their names on beech trees near the river c. 1775. By 1778, settlers established McFadden's Station on the north bank of the Barren River.
Present-day Bowling Green developed from homesteads erected by Robert and George Moore and General Elijah Covington, not the namesake of the town near Cincinnati.
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.
BuiltSt. Joseph Roman Catholic Church is built
In the archiveBowling Green, Kentucky, March 2, 1862
Born hereHerschel Mayall is born hereBuiltWarren County Courthouse is built
In the archiveBird's eye view of the city of Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky 1871
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Warren County - Bowling Green - ED 114…
Born hereFrancis McDonald is born here
In the archive13-year-old laundry boy driving wagon. See report. LOC nclc.03972
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltHeating Plant is built
In the archiveBaker Hill Zephyr Service. Bowling Green, Ky (83389)BuiltCherry Hall is built
Born hereSam Bush is born here5 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
191613-year-old laundry boy driving wagon. See report. LO…
1916B.F. Howell, Route 4, Bowling Green, Ky. and part of …
1916Edgar Kitchen 13 yrs. old gets $3.25 a week for worki…
1916Edgar Kitchen 13 yrs. old gets $3.25 a week working f…
1916Jo Oliphant, R.D. 3, Bowling Green, holding stick for…
1916Lewis Hine, Edgar Kitchen, 13 years, drives dairy wag…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bowling Green. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bowling Green.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bowling Green’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 41 people in 1800 to 72,294 in 2020, more than tenfold.
19 censuses, 1800–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bowling Green’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1798, according to Wikidata. Bowling Green’s post office opened in 1802, and the census of 1800 counted 41 people here.
Bowling Green is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #52 of 142 in Kentucky. 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.
67 listings: 49 buildings, among them the Riverview (listed 1972, the first), 10 historic districts with 405 contributing buildings, 6 structures, and 2 objects. 464 historic buildings in all.
6% of Bowling Green’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 Wikimedia Commons (14), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (67), 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.
1862
1865
1880
c. 1930
