Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Pembroke was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1870.
The Pembroke post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1836.
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 Pembroke’s history is told.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWilliam Hardin Harrison is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Pembroke.
The town was settled in 1836 and named for Pembroke Somerset, Esq., a character in Jane Porter's 1803 novel Thaddeus of Warsaw, by Dr. Lunsford Lindsay, a local store owner. It was incorporated as a city in 1869.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pembroke, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pembroke was from the beginning a town of churches. The Christian Church was built first in 1851, and in 1901 it was replaced by a new and larger house. The Baptist Church was built in 1884, upon the division of Bethel Church, between Pembroke and Fairview. The Cumberland Presbyterians built their house in 1890, moving from Salubria. The Methodists also moved from Salubria when that village was absorbed by the growing town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
PEMBROKE The town of Pembroke dates back to about the year 1848, when the need for a post office was felt. by the planters living ten miles southeast of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
2025St Elmo School KY
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2004KYMap-doton-PembrokeThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pembroke.
1950Pembroke sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pembroke.
Between 202 and 869 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pembroke’s Wikipedia page.
Pembroke’s post office has been open since 1830.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pembroke post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1836.
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 (12), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
