Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 124 buildings. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1890.
The Monterey post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monterey’s history is told.
Peaked at 370 in 1900; 112 people lived here in 2020.
10 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monterey’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monterey.
The town was initially named Williamsburg due to a specific individual, James Williams, who came from Maryland, and set up a trading post in the area in about 1805, being the first to do so.
In 1847, the town was officially established by the Kentucky Legislature and changed its name to Monterey to commemorate the Battle of Monterey in the Mexican-American War.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monterey. 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 Monterey.
Nobody well known was born in Monterey itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Monterey had its own post office from 1847 to 1865.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Monterey post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Monterey Historic District (listed 1997).
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2004
