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Hustonville-Main-Street-kyPhoto: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Hustonville

Hustonville’s post office opened in 1838, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Nathan Huston House. Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1860.

1838first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Hustonville began

When was Hustonville founded?

1838

The Hustonville post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hanging Fork (1818), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 215 in 18602020 census: 387188 years
Founding year: the first Hustonville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hustonville’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 Hustonville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Hustonville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hustonville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hustonville’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
Timeline

Hustonville, 1818 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1818Post officeThe Hanging Fork post office opens
  3. 1838Post officeThe Hanging Fork post office closes
  4. 1838Post officeThe Hustonville post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Hustonville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hustonville.

Read it all →

The community was originally known as The Crossroads from its location on trails connecting the Kentucky and Green rivers and the Falls of the Ohio with Logan's Fort (present-day Stanford). It was then known as Farmington and, after the 1818 erection of a post office, Hanging Fork after a local stream named for two bandits who were hanged by Virginia officers rather than escorted back for trial. For three months in 1826, it was known as New Store, but the name then returned to Hanging Fork. When the town was established on February 29, 1836, it was renamed Hustonville after two local landowners; the post office adopted the name the next year. The city was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1850.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Hustonville, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Hustonville-from-Main-ky2017Hustonville-from-Main-kyHustonville-Post-Office-ky2017Hustonville-Post-Office-kyHustonville-Pool-Room-ky2017Hustonville-Pool-Room-kyHustonville-Main-Street-ky2017Hustonville-Main-Street-kyHustonville-Haunted-Castle-ky2017Hustonville-Haunted-Castle-kyHustonville-City-Hall-ky2017Hustonville-City-Hall-ky
On the map

Hustonville on the map, 1952 to 1979

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

Hustonville on the 1952 USGS mapHustonville on the 1979 USGS map1952Hustonville 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 Hustonville.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Hustonville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Nathan Huston House
Nathan Huston House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
All 1 listings
Nathan Huston HouseBuilding · listed 1983

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

People over time

Hustonville, census by census

0100200300400190019502000Peak: 443

Between 215 and 443 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Hustonville

Nobody well known was born in Hustonville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Kit CarsonAmerican frontiersman and Union Army general · b. 1809
Scott Pruitt14th Administrator of the EPA; former Attorney … · b. 1968
Tony SnowAmerican White House Press Secretary · b. 1955
T
Tommy Lee WallaceAmerican film director · b. 1949
John Sherman CooperAmerican politician, jurist, and diplomat · b. 1901
James G. BirneyAmerican politician and Kentucky native · b. 1792
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Hustonville’s post office has been open since 1838. Another post office, Hanging Fork, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hanging Fork
1818–1838
Hustonville
1838–today
18101920today

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

Questions about Hustonville’s history

What year was Hustonville founded?

The Hustonville post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Hustonville?

One place: the Nathan Huston House (listed 1983).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.