Most of Brodhead was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Brodhead post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Brodhead’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brodhead is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brodhead’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 Brodhead’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Brodhead’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
What is now Brodhead was originally a stagecoach stop and drover's stable known as Stigalls Station. When the L&N Railroad reached the area in early 1868, a train station was established, and the town was given its current name. The town is believed to have been named for the contractor responsible for building the rail line in the area, or for Richard Brodhead, a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Brodhead’s history
What year was Brodhead founded?
The Brodhead post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Brodhead rank for history?
Brodhead is more historic than 17% 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.
How old are the homes in Brodhead?
3% of Brodhead’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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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