Newport dates to 1791, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #1 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
19 places in town are on the National Register, among them seven historic districts with 2,692 buildings between them. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1800.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Newport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newport is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 142 in Kentucky. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newport’s overall grade.
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 Newport’s 1,937 sits above most of its state (99% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 2,706 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). Two sources give 1791.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about Newport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Newport was settled c. 1791 by James Taylor Jr. on land purchased by his father James Sr. from George Muse, who received it as a grant. Taylor's brother, Hubbard Taylor, had been mapping the land twenty years prior. It was not named for its position on the river but for Christopher Newport, the commander of the first ship to reach Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Newport was established as a town on December 14, 1795, and incorporated as a city on February 24, 1834. In 1803, the Ft. Washington military post was moved from Cincinnati to become the Newport Barracks. A bridge first connected Newport to Covington in 1853, and the first bridge spanning the Ohio River to Cincinnati, the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, opened in 1866. Newport experienced large German immigration in the 1880-90s.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newport. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914East Cincinnati 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 Newport.
Every building
Newport, building by building, 1886–1910
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
CliftonCote BrilliantThe Estates At Wiedemann MansionWoodlawn
Gone or out of use
Arnold Elementary SchoolschoolCampbell County Protestant Orphans HomebuildingCentral Christian ChurchchurchChurch of ChristchurchChurch of the Immaculate ConceptionchurchCorpus Christi SchoolschoolDistrict School Number 14schoolFirst German Baptist ChurchchurchFirst Spiritualist ChurchchurchFourteenth District SchoolschoolImmaculate Conception SchoolschoolMount Saint Martin's Young Women's InstituteschoolNewport AcademyschoolNewport Baptist TabernaclechurchNewport BarracksmilitaryNinth Street Public SchoolschoolNotre Dame SchoolschoolSaint Stephen Catholic Churchchurch
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Newport’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1791, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Newport’s post office opened in 1800, and the census of 1800 counted 106 people here.
How does Newport rank for history?
Newport is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 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.
What is on the National Register in Newport?
19 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Bellevue (listed 1976, the first), 7 historic districts with 2,692 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 2,706 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Newport?
47% of Newport’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 1947.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (18), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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