Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1900.
Livingston dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 912 in 1930; 166 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Livingston’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Livingston.
The first post office at the site was known as Fish Point and opened in 1840. The L&N reached the settlement in 1870 and named its station after James Livingston, a local landowner. The post office was renamed Livingston Station in 1879 and, following the city's 1880 incorporation, Livingston in 1882.
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Rockcastle County - Livingston - ED 10…
Born hereDavid M. Smith is born here
In the archiveGrand Rivers Hotel
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCSX Road Railer, Livingston, KY on April 24, 19883 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Livingston. 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 Livingston.
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 Livingston’s page.
Retake this view · +15Livingston’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Livingston Station, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1880, according to Wikidata. Livingston’s post office opened in 1879, and the census of 1900 counted 605 people here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (12), 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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