Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mentor

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Mentor

Mentor’s post office opened in 1882, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1931 on and the census since 1970.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Mentor began

When was Mentor founded?

1882

The Mentor post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kennedy's Ferry (1813), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 138 in 19702020 census: 218144 years
Founding year: the first Mentor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mentor’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 Mentor are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mentor’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mentor’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
The story so far

Mentor, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mentor yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mentor is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 218 as of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 193 to 218 (+13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Mentor, 1813 to 1976

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1813Post officeThe Kennedy's Ferry post office opens
  3. 1817Post officeThe Kennedy's Ferry post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Mentor post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1976Post officeThe Mentor post office closes
By decade

Mentor, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Mentor-RR-tracks-ky2019Mentor-RR-tracks-kyMentor-Main-St-ky2019Mentor-Main-St-kyMentor-Lanes-End-ky2019Mentor-Lanes-End-ky
On the map

Mentor on the map, 1931 to 1981

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

Mentor on the 1931 USGS mapMentor on the 1981 USGS map1931Felicity sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mentor.

People over time

Mentor, census by census

0100200198020002020Peak: 218

Between 138 and 218 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mentor’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Mentor had its own post office from 1882 to 1976. Another post office, Kennedy's Ferry, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kennedy's Ferry
1813–1817
Mentor
1882–1976
18101920today
Gone or out of use
Beech Grove SeminaryschoolBelmontlocaleKennedys Ferry Post Officepost officeMentor Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Mentor
Grandview

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Mentor’s history

What year was Mentor founded?

The Mentor post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.