Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #16 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
53 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and ten historic districts with 354 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1800.
Danville dates its founding to 1785 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1800.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Danville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #16 of 142 in Kentucky. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Danville’s 244 sits above most of its state (84% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 423 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew 6-fold.
22 censuses, 1800–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Danville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Danville.
It had the first U.S. post office west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Ephraim McDowell completed the first known successful laparotomy here in 1809, removing an ovarian tumor from a woman patient without anesthesia.
It is the home of Centre College, housing the oldest college administration building and campus west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJames G. Birney is born hereBuiltJacobs Hall, Kentucky School for the Deaf is built
In the archiveJames Gillespie Birney
Born hereHugh L. Scott is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Boyle County - Danville - ED 11-13, ED…
In the archiveCamp Dick Robinson
In the archiveHome and office of Dr. Ephran McDowell, father of American surgery - Danville, KyBuiltConstitution Square Historic District is built
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Photographer May 30, 1940 ENTRANCE FROM …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJohn Michael Montgomery is born here
Born hereScott Pruitt is born here5 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…
1940Historic American Buildings Survey Lester Jones, Phot…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Danville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Danville.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 3 of 6Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Danville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Danville’s post office has been open since 1792.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1785, according to Wikidata. Danville’s post office opened in 1792, and the census of 1800 counted 270 people here.
Danville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #16 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.
53 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 38 buildings, among them the Dr. Ephraim McDowell House (a National Historic Landmark since 1965), 13 historic districts with 354 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 object. 423 historic buildings in all.
14% of Danville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (53), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1880
