Georgetown dates to 1784, and 45 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #51 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
Most of Georgetown was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. 45 places in town are on the National Register, among them eight historic districts with 298 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1800.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1801.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Georgetown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Georgetown is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #51 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Georgetown’s 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 Georgetown’s 98.9 sits above most of its state (68% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 387 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1784.
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 →
What stands out about Georgetown’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Georgetown, building by building, 1886–1912
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.
Native peoples have lived along the banks of Elkhorn Creek in what is now Scott County for at least 15,000 years. At the time of European encounter, the historic Shawnee people occupied this area.
Anglo-American exploration can be dated to the late colonial period and a June 1774 surveying expedition from Fincastle County, Virginia, led by Colonel John Floyd. For his military service, he was granted a claim of 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) in the area by the state of Virginia. He named it Royal Spring but did not settle it. John McClellan was the first English colonist to settle the area and established McClellan's Station there in 1775, but the compound was abandoned following an Indian attack on December 29, 1776.
In 1784, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Georgetown’s post office opened in 1801, and the census of 1800 counted 348 people here.
How does Georgetown rank for history?
Georgetown is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #51 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.
What is on the National Register in Georgetown?
45 listings: 35 buildings, among them the Scott County Courthouse (listed 1972, the first), 8 historic districts with 298 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 object. 387 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Georgetown?
5% of Georgetown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 the Library of Congress (13), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (45), 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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