History · Grayson

Grayson’s post office opened in 1840

More historic than 23% of U.S. towns · #115 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it

Most of Grayson was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1870.

1840first post office

0on the National Register

0.0%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Grayson’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Grayson began

When was Grayson founded?

1840

The Grayson post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1844.

First census: 152 in 18702020 census: 3,834186 years

How historic is Grayson?

C⁻

More historic than 23% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Grayson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1844.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Grayson’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grayson is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #115 of 142 in Kentucky. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Grayson’s overall grade.

Founding era1840, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.7) · typical KY town 5.9% · U.S. 8.4%D⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical KY town 29.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 23%

NewerOlder

Kentucky towns of 2,500+ (142)Ahead of 19%

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 Grayson’s 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 (±0.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1844 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

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 Grayson’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1840: 186 years of Grayson.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grayson’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grayson’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewMount Savage Iron Furnace, Junction of …: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Timeline

Grayson, 1840 to 1977

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

19th century
1840Post officeThe Grayson post office opens
20th century
1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1977Born hereJason Smith is born here

The story

How Grayson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grayson.

Read it all →

After the Revolutionary War, George Washington's aide-de-camp Col. William Grayson received a 70,000-acre (280 km2) tract of land for his service during the war from the state of Virginia. By 1838, a small portion of this tract was set aside for the development of a town named for him. Although Grayson had only five streets and eighty lots, it was established by the General Assembly on February 6, 1844, and it was incorporated on February 22, 1860.

Grayson, Kentucky was a stop on the Eastern Kentucky Railway.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Grayson, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Mount Savage Iron Furnace, Junction of U.S. Route 60 & State Route 1

Date?Mount Savage Iron Furnace, Junction of U.S. Route 60 …

Today8 recent

2018Main near Landsdown

2014Grayson, Kentucky

2007KentuckyChristianUniversity

2007Carter County, Kentucky courthouse

2004KYMap-doton-Grayson

On the map

Grayson on the map, 1953 to 1971

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

1953Grayson sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Grayson.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewMount Savage Iron Furnace, Junction of U.S. Route 60 & State Route 1

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Grayson’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Grayson, census by census

Between 152 and 4,217 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old burying grounds

Grayson’s post office has been open since 1840.

3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Grayson

East Carter County Memory GardensGrayson MemorialKeffer

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Grayson’s history

What year was Grayson founded?

The Grayson post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1844.

How does Grayson rank for history?

Grayson is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #115 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 Grayson?

0.0% of Grayson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1982.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (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) 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.

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