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History · Calhoun

Calhoun’s post office opened in 1849, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Griffith-Franklin House. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1880 on.

1849first post office
1on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Calhoun began

When was Calhoun founded?

1849

The Calhoun post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 725177 years
Founding year: the first Calhoun post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Calhoun’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1849: 177 years of Calhoun.Old housesHalf of Calhoun’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Calhoun’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Calhoun’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Calhoun, 1849 to 1885

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Calhoun post office opens
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - McLean County - Calhoun - ED 75-8, ED …
  4. 1885Born hereGlover H. Cary is born here
The story

How Calhoun came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Calhoun.

Read it all →

Present-day Calhoun was first known as "Rhoadsville" after the German-born Pennsylvanian Captain Henry Rhoads (1739–1809), who laid out the town from 1784 to 1785 near the Long Falls of the Green River. His brother Solomon then erected a fort to protect the settlers and the transit around the falls.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Calhoun, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - McLean County - Calhoun - ED 75-8, ED 75-1418801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Mc…
1890s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
KY81 bridge at2014KY81 bridge atHouse on First Street in2013House on First Street inGriffith-Franklin House in2013Griffith-Franklin House inCalhoun post office 423272013Calhoun post office 42327KYMap-doton-Calhoun2004KYMap-doton-Calhoun
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - McLean County - Calhoun - ED 75-8, ED 75-14
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - McLean County - Calhoun - ED 75-8, ED 75-14, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Calhoun’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Calhoun

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Griffith-Franklin House
Griffith-Franklin House
Buildings
Griffith-Franklin HouseBuilding

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

Questions about Calhoun’s history

What year was Calhoun founded?

The Calhoun post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Calhoun?

One place: the Griffith-Franklin House (listed 1975).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.