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History · Mays Lick

Mays Lick’s post office opened in 1806, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1952 on.

1806first post office
5on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Mays Lick began

When was Mays Lick founded?

1806

The Mays Lick post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 252220 years
Founding year: the first Mays Lick post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mays Lick’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 Mays Lick are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1806: 220 years of Mays Lick.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mays Lick’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mays Lick’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

Mays Lick, 1806 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1806Post officeThe Mays Lick post office opens
  3. 1864Born hereCharles Young is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1909BuiltMays Lick Consolidated School is built
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the National Register

5 historic places in Mays Lick

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Mays Lick Consolidated School
Mays Lick Consolidated School, built 1909Springhouse in Mays LickMay's Lick Negro School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Federal2
Greek Revival1
Settlement Vernacular1
Vernacular1
Mays Lick Consolidated SchoolBuilt 1909
Poague HouseFederal
All 5 listings
Stone Barn on Lee's CreekBuilding · listed 1987Springhouse in Mays LickBuilding · listed 1987May's Lick Negro SchoolBuilding · listed 2018

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

The story

How Mays Lick came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mays Lick.

Read it all →

May's Lick was founded in 1788 by six families from Scotch Plains, New Jersey:

Isaac Drake (1756–1832), father of (i) Daniel Drake (1785–1852), American physician and author, and (ii) Benjamin Drake (1795–1841), American historian, editor, and writer; Daniel Drake's son, Charles Daniel Drake (1811–1892), was a United States Senator from Missouri and an anti-slavery politician

David Morris (1746–1798) and wife, Mary née Shotwell (1748–1806)

John Shotwell (1753–1826) and wife, Abigail née Shipman (1754–1835)

Abraham, Cornelius, and Isaac Drake were brothers, and John and Mary Shotwell were siblings.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Mays Lick, decade by decade

Today1 recent
The restored Rosenwald's Mays Lick Negro School2020The restored Rosenwald's Mays Lick Negro School
On the map

Mays Lick on the map, 1952 to 1993

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

Mays Lick on the 1952 USGS mapMays Lick on the 1978 USGS mapMays Lick on the 1993 USGS map1952Mays Lick 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 Mays Lick.

Questions about Mays Lick’s history

What year was Mays Lick founded?

The Mays Lick post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Mays Lick?

5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Mays Lick Consolidated School (listed 1982, the first). 6 historic buildings in all.

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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.