Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #95 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 31 buildings. Most of Leitchfield was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1860.
Leitchfield dates its founding to 1866 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Leitchfield is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #95 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Leitchfield’s 49.9 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 34 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Leitchfield’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1901Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Leitchfield.
The town was named for Major David Leitch, an aide to Gen. George Washington and the original owner of much land in the county, including the town site, at the eastern end of his holdings. The city was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1866.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltCedars, The is built
In the archiveFannie Brandon, Leitchfield, Kentucky, carte-de-visite photograph, 1865
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Grayson County - Leitchfield - ED 43-2…
BuiltHunter House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Leitchfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Leitchfield.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Leitchfield’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 226 and 6,699 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Leitchfield’s Wikipedia page.
Leitchfield’s post office has been open since 1877. Another post office, Litchfleld, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1866, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Leitchfield’s post office opened in 1813, and the census of 1860 counted 226 people here.
Leitchfield is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #95 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Jack Thomas House (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Court Square Historic District, with 31 contributing buildings. 34 historic buildings in all.
4% of Leitchfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1977.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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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