Most of Irvington was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 20 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Irvington post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Irvington’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Irvington is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Irvington’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 Irvington’s 151 sits above most of its state (76% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 20 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 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 Irvington’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The local post office was first established as Merino (for the nearby Mt. Merino Seminary) on February 16, 1885. However, two area businessmen, R.M. Jolly and Edgar L. Bennett, anticipating the route of the Louisville, St. Louis, and Texas Railroad, purchased 315 acres (127 ha) of farmland at the site and then, with the help of the railroad's employees, platted a new community over the 1888–89 winter. This was named for Irvington, New York, the hometown of the railroad's chief engineer, Eugene Cornwall. Irvington was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1889.
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.
Between 385 and 1,409 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Irvington’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Irvington’s history
What year was Irvington founded?
The Irvington post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Irvington rank for history?
Irvington is more historic than 53% 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 Irvington?
One place: the Irvington Historic District (listed 1998).
How old are the homes in Irvington?
8% of Irvington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), 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.
1938
2004