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History · Cecilia

Cecilia’s post office opened in 1912, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1916 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cecilia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cecilia began

When was Cecilia founded?

1912

The Cecilia post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cecilian (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 575114 years
Founding year: the first Cecilia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Cecilia’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cecilia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A com…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Cecilia, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cecilia yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cecilia is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. It is located 6 miles (10 km) west of Elizabethtown, the county seat. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 575, stagnant from the 2010 census population of 572. The town was formerly called "Cecilian Junction" because of its location at the junction of the Illinois Central Railroad's Louisville-Paducah main line and its branch to Hodgenville. (The line now belongs to the Paducah and Louisville Railway, and the branch is now truncated to Elizabethtown.) The community is part of the Elizabethtown–Fort Knox Metropolitan Statistical Area, and a significant part of the area ser…

Its first post office opened in 1912. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 572 in 2010, 575 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Cecilia, 1871 to 1917

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Cecilian post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Born hereEdmon Ryan is born here
  5. 1912Post officeThe Cecilian post office closes
  6. 1912Post officeThe Cecilia post office opens
  7. 1916In the archive'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A common scene in the Fall. Boys are 9, 12, 15 and 17 y…
  8. 1917Born hereRoy Bruner is born here
By decade

Cecilia, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A common scene in the Fall. Boys are 9, 12, 15 and 17 years old. Father, R.A. Cave, R…1916'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A common scene in t…
1920s–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
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.

'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A common scene in the Fall. Boys are 9, 12, 15 and 17 years old. Father, R.A. Cave, R…
Retake this view'Grubbing out the fence corners.' A common scene in the Fall. Boys are 9, 12, 15 and 17 years old. Father, R.A. Cave, R…, 1916

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Cecilia

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

See all →
Edmon RyanAmerican actor · b. 1905
R
Roy BrunerAmerican baseball player · b. 1917
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Cecilia’s post office has been open since 1912. Another post office, Cecilian, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cecilian
1871–1912
Cecilia
1912–today
18701950today

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.

Elizabethtown37 historic placesB

Questions about Cecilia’s history

What year was Cecilia founded?

The Cecilia post office opened in 1912, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.