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History · Campbellsburg

Campbellsburg’s post office opened in 1840, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1880.

1840first post office
0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Campbellsburg began

When was Campbellsburg founded?

1840

The Campbellsburg post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Sulphur Fork (1869), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 107 in 18802020 census: 836186 years
Founding year: the first Campbellsburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Campbellsburg’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 Campbellsburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew 4-fold.Deep rootsA post office since 1840: 186 years of Campbellsburg.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Campbellsburg’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Campbellsburg’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
People over time

Campbellsburg, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020342 in 1890Low: 191

Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew 4-fold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Campbellsburg, 1840 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Campbellsburg post office opens
  3. 1869Born hereScott Stratton is born here
  4. 1869Post officeThe Sulphur Fork post office opens
  5. 1880Post officeThe Sulphur Fork post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1909Born hereJohnny Marcum is born here
  8. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 21st century
  10. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 836
The story

How Campbellsburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Campbellsburg.

Read it all →

The city was incorporated by the state legislature in 1840 as "Chiltonsville", in honor of its trustee Charles J. Chilton, but the name was changed within three weeks to "Campbellsburg" for another local family. Later the same year, the local post office at Benevola was renamed "Campbellsburg" as well. The arrival of the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad in 1869 led to a division of the town into "Old" and "New Campbellsburg". The later was separately incorporated in 1876 but eventually expanded until the two polities merged into the present town.

Campbellsburg's central business district was rebuilt after much of it was destroyed by a tornado on April 1, 1974.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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

Campbellsburg on the map, 1952 to 1990

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

Campbellsburg on the 1952 USGS mapCampbellsburg on the 1969 USGS mapCampbellsburg on the 1986 USGS mapCampbellsburg on the 1990 USGS map1952Campbellsburg sheet · 1:24,000

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Campbellsburg

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

See all →
Johnny MarcumAmerican baseball player · b. 1909
Scott StrattonAmerican baseball player · b. 1869
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Campbellsburg’s post office has been open since 1840. Another post office, Sulphur Fork, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Campbellsburg
1840–today
Sulphur Fork
1869–1880
18401930today
Gone or out of use
Campbellsburg Railroad StationlocaleSulphur Churchchurch
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Campbellsburg
Campbellsburg Second Baptist ChurchMasonicSulphur Fork Primitive Baptist

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

Questions about Campbellsburg’s history

What year was Campbellsburg founded?

The Campbellsburg post office opened in 1840, 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 →
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 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) 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.