Its Register listing is the Russell Lodge No. 284. Most of Jamestown was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1870.
Founding year: the first Jamestown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jamestown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jamestown is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jamestown’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 Jamestown’s 5.8 sits near the middle of its state (35% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Jamestown’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was established in 1826 to be the seat of the newly formed Russell County. It was briefly known as Jacksonville in honor of General Andrew Jackson, who had just won a plurality of the popular vote during the 1824 presidential election but lost the runoff in the House of Representatives, largely because of the "corrupt bargain" struck by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. However, an anti-Jacksonian party loyal to Clay came into power the same year and the post office was established in November as Jamestown after local landowner James Wooldridge, who (together with his brother John) had donated 110 acres of land for the town. The act of the state legislature incorporating the city in December continued this name, which the city has used since.
The Jamestown post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Jamestown rank for history?
Jamestown is more historic than 41% 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 Jamestown?
One place: the Russell Lodge No. 284 (listed 1994).
How old are the homes in Jamestown?
1% of Jamestown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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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