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History · Crab Orchard

Crab Orchard’s post office opened in 1815, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Confederate Monument at Crab Orchard. Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1830.

1815first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Crab Orchard began

When was Crab Orchard founded?

1815

The Crab Orchard post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 234 in 18302020 census: 744211 years
Founding year: the first Crab Orchard post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Crab Orchard’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 Crab Orchard are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1815: 211 years of Crab Orchard.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crab Orchard’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crab Orchard’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
Timeline

Crab Orchard, 1815 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1815Post officeThe Crab Orchard post office opens
  3. 1846Born hereJohn Henry Wilson is born here
  4. 1872BuiltConfederate Monument at Crab Orchard is built
  5. 20th century
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Crab Orchard came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crab Orchard.

Read it all →

Crab Orchard was named for a large stand of crab apple trees located by early pioneer Henry Long Hunter Skaggs. It was situated near the end of the Logan Trace branch of the famous Wilderness Road, making it an important early pioneer station and rest stop for settlers traveling further into the Kentucky frontier from Hazel Patch to Logan's Station (present-day Stanford).

The city's post office was established in 1815, with Archibald Shanks serving as its first postmaster. It later became a station along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which significantly aided the town's early economic development.

ChaptersCrab Orchard Springs Resort

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Crab Orchard, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Crab Orchard from the cemetery2014Crab Orchard from the cemeteryKYMap-doton-CrabOrchard2004KYMap-doton-CrabOrchard
On the map

Crab Orchard on the map, 1952 to 1982

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

Crab Orchard on the 1952 USGS mapCrab Orchard on the 1982 USGS map1952Crab Orchard 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 Crab Orchard.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Crab Orchard

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
1997
Confederate Monument at Crab Orchard
Confederate Monument at Crab Orchard, built 1872
Objects
All 1 listings
Confederate Monument at Crab OrchardObject · listed 1997

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

People over time

Crab Orchard, census by census

02004006008001850190019502000Peak: 861

Between 234 and 861 people in every census since 1830.

18 censuses, 1830–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Crab Orchard’s post office has been open since 1815.

Gone or out of use
Crab Orchard Baptist ChurchchurchDouble SpringslocaleMoores Stationlocale

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

Questions about Crab Orchard’s history

What year was Crab Orchard founded?

The Crab Orchard post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Crab Orchard?

One place: the Confederate Monument at Crab Orchard (listed 1997).

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