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History · Fordsville

Fordsville’s post office opened in 1846, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad Depot. Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1880.

1846first post office
1on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Fordsville began

When was Fordsville founded?

1846

The Fordsville post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 85 in 18802020 census: 446180 years
Founding year: the first Fordsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fordsville’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 Fordsville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 649 in 1910; 446 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of Fordsville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fordsville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fordsville’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
People over time

Fordsville, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 649

Peaked at 649 in 1910; 446 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Fordsville, 1846 to 1932

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Fordsville post office opens
  3. 1897Born hereCalvin D. Johnson is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 649
  6. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Fordsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fordsville.

Read it all →

Settled c. 1830, the town is named for early merchant and probable founder Elisha Ford. It was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1886.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Fordsville, decade by decade

Today5 recent
L&N Depot Museum2022L&N Depot MuseumFordsville City Hall, Kentucky2022Fordsville City Hall, KentuckyOhioCountyKY-Fordsville-depot-obl2014OhioCountyKY-Fordsville-depot-oblOhioCountyKY-Fordsville-depot-end2014OhioCountyKY-Fordsville-depot-endKYMap-doton-Fordsville2004KYMap-doton-Fordsville
On the map

Fordsville on the map, 1932 to 1953

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

Fordsville on the 1932 USGS mapFordsville on the 1953 USGS map1932Fordsville 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 Fordsville.

Every building

Fordsville, building by building, 1915

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 sheet.

Fordsville fire insurance map, 1915, sheet 11915Sheet 1 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Fordsville

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
1991
Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad D…
Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad Depot
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Prairie School1
Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad DepotPrairie School

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

Questions about Fordsville’s history

What year was Fordsville founded?

The Fordsville post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Fordsville?

One place: the Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad Depot (listed 1991).

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 (5), Wikidata (1), 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), 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.