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History · Burnside

Burnside’s post office opened in 1880, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1910.

1880first post office
4on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Burnside began

When was Burnside founded?

1880

The Burnside post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Point Isabel (1877), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 1,117 in 19102020 census: 694146 years
Founding year: the first Burnside post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Burnside’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 Burnside are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1908 to 1926, drew every building in Burnside.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Burnside’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Burnside’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
Every building

Burnside, building by building, 1908–1926

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.

Burnside fire insurance map, 1908, sheet 11908Sheet 1 of 4
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

4 historic places in Burnside

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Boland House
Boland HouseBurnside Lodge, built 1910Burnside Methodist ChurchBurnside Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne2
Victorian Gothic1
Boland HouseQueen Anne
Burnside LodgeBuilt 1910
Burnside Methodist ChurchVictorian Gothic
All 4 listings
Burnside Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1984

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Burnside came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Burnside.

Read it all →

The community was originally settled at the juncture of the Cumberland River and its South Fork. It was called Point Isabel, allegedly for a woman who jumped off a nearby cliff after breaking off a relationship. In 1890, the town was renamed for Civil War General Ambrose Burnside, who established a camp there during the war.

Burnside was a center for shipping by rail and steamboat packet. Its lumber mills sent products around the world. The town boasted retail stores, saloons, a post office, restaurants, churches, a bank, hotels, and even Burnside Academy – the first Wesleyan preparatory school in the state.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Burnside, 1877 to 1932

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Point Isabel post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Point Isabel post office closes
  4. 1880Post officeThe Burnside post office opens
  5. 1889Born hereEdith Fitzgerald is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1910BuiltBurnside Lodge is built
  8. 1930Born hereDavid E. Davis is born here
  9. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Burnside, decade by decade

Today7 recent
Founding of2018Founding ofDedication for former Kentucky governor Albert Benjamin Chandler2018Dedication for former Kentucky governor Albert Benjam…Lakeshore west of French in2014Lakeshore west of French inBurnside United Methodist Church2014Burnside United Methodist ChurchBurnside Masonic Lodge2014Burnside Masonic LodgeBoland House in2014Boland House inKYMap-doton-Burnside2004KYMap-doton-Burnside
On the map

Burnside on the map, 1932 to 1982

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

Burnside on the 1932 USGS mapBurnside on the 1954 USGS mapBurnside on the 1965 USGS mapBurnside on the 1982 USGS map1932Burnside 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 Burnside.

People over time

Burnside, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,117

Between 575 and 1,117 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Burnside’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Burnside

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
David E. DavisAmerican journalist · b. 1930
E
Edith FitzgeraldAmerican screenwriter and playwright · b. 1889
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Burnside’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Point Isabel, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Point Isabel
1877–1878
Burnside
1880–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Lees Fordcrossing

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Somerset23 historic placesA−FergusonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Burnside’s history

What year was Burnside founded?

The Burnside post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Burnside?

4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Boland House (listed 1984, the first), and 1 historic district, the Burnside Historic District, with 4 contributing buildings. 8 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.