Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #71 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 61 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1890.
Middlesborough dates its founding to 1890 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Middlesborough is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #71 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Middlesborough’s 71.2 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 65 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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 Middlesborough’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Peaked at 14,482 in 1950; 9,405 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Middlesborough’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Middlesborough.
The area was originally inhabited by American Indians such as the Shawnee. The first European known to have visited the area was Gabriel Arthur in 1674. He was later followed by Thomas Walker in 1750 and Daniel Boone in 1769.
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 archiveMiddlesboro High School 1921
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCLOSEUP OF A PICKET SIGN MADE BY MINERS ON STRIKE AGAINST THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY IN B…2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Middlesborough. 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 Middlesborough.
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 Middlesborough’s page.
Retake this view · +15Another post office, Yellow Creek, 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).
In 1890, according to Wikidata. Middlesborough’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1890 counted 3,271 people here.
Middlesborough is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #71 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.
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Limited American Association Office Building (listed 1978, the first), 1 historic district, the Middlesboro Downtown Commercial District, with 61 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 65 historic buildings in all.
11% of Middlesborough’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, 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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