21 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 41 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1800.
Founding year: the first Greensburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Greensburg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greensburg is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greensburg’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 Greensburg’s 294 sits above most of its state (87% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 62 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Greensburg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The 1780 settlement was originally known as "Glover's Station", for local landowner John Glover, who received 193 acres (0.78 km2) in the area as a military grant after the American Revolution.
Following the establishment of Green County (named for Revolutionary War Maj. General Nathanael Greene) from parts of Lincoln and Nelson counties in 1792, Greensburg was laid out and established two years later as its eponymous seat of government. It was incorporated as a city a year after that. The central Public Square was also laid out in 1795 and has been retained as designed since then, with the only changes being the paving of the square with concrete and the installation of concrete dividers in the four quadrants.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greensburg.
Every building
Greensburg, building by building, 1886–1927
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 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 viewHistoric American Buildings Survey Theodore Webb, Photographer, Jan. 31, 1934 GENERAL VIEW (NORTHEAST) - Old Courthouse…, 1934
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Greensburg’s page.
The Greensburg post office opened in 1807, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Greensburg rank for history?
Greensburg is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. 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 Greensburg?
21 listings: 19 buildings, among them the Old Courthouse (listed 1972, the first), 1 historic district, the Downtown Greensburg Historic District, with 41 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 62 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Greensburg?
16% of Greensburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (21), Wikipedia, 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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