Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #68 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1880.
The Eminence post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1851.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eminence is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #68 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Eminence’s 99.1 sits above most of its state (68% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 27 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Eminence’s history is told.
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 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Eminence.
The area post office, established in 1836, was moved to Eminence in 1850, and named for its supposed location at the highest point on the railroad line between Louisville and Lexington. The city was formally incorporated in 1851.
The Eminence Historic Commercial District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eminence. 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 Eminence.
Grew from 1,043 people in 1880 to 2,705 in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Eminence’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Eminence’s post office has been open since 1850.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Eminence post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1851.
Eminence is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #68 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, 1 historic district, the Eminence Historic Commercial District, with 25 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 27 historic buildings in all.
14% of Eminence’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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