More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #123 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
Most of Crescent Springs was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Crescent Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Crescent Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crescent Springs is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #123 of 142 in Kentucky. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crescent Springs’ overall grade.
Kentucky towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kentucky town has 29.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Crescent Springs’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Crescent Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Crescent Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914West Cincinnati 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 Crescent Springs.
Originally a stop on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, the name Crescent Springs could refer to either the shape of the tracks crossing through the community or to New Orleans's nickname "the Crescent City" after its shape beside the Mississippi River. (New Orleans was the southern terminus of the Cincinnati Southern, from which it was sometimes known as the "Queen and Crescent Railroad".)
In 1930, the International Labor Defense alleged that Crescent Springs was a sundown town where African Americans were not allowed to reside.
The Crescent Springs post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Crescent Springs rank for history?
Crescent Springs is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #123 of 142 in Kentucky. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Crescent Springs?
3% of Crescent Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1993.
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).
From Wikipedia, 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.
