Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1870.
The New Haven post office opened in 1829, 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Haven’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Haven’s Wikipedia page.
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Haven yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
New Haven is a home rule-class city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 census, New Haven had a population of 798.
Its first post office opened in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 855 to 798 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 New Haven. 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 New Haven.
Nobody well known was born in New Haven itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The New Haven post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
6 listings: 2 buildings, among them the New Sherwood Hotel (listed 1992, the first), 2 sites, and 2 structures.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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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