Its Register listings are the Salyersville Bank, the Judge D. W. Gardner House and the Gardner Farmstead. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1849.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Salyersville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Salyersville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Salyersville’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 Salyersville’s 17.6 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 points). Two sources give 1860.
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 →
What stands out about Salyersville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The hill overlooking the bend of the Licking River just downriver from the present town was fortified and settled c. 1800 by Archibald Prater, Ebenezer Hanna, and others. Originally known as "Prater's Fort", the community had become "Licking Station" by the time of its first post office in 1839.
In 1849, the post office was moved to the community at site of the present city and renamed "Adamsville" after local landowner Uncle William Adams. In addition to his farmland, Adams operated a hotel, a gristmill, a tannery, and a blacksmithy at the new location.
In 1860, according to Wikidata. Salyersville’s post office opened in 1849, and the census of 1870 counted 106 people here.
How does Salyersville rank for history?
Salyersville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. 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 Salyersville?
Three places: the Salyersville Bank (listed 1997), the Judge D. W. Gardner House (1979) and the Gardner Farmstead (2015).
How old are the homes in Salyersville?
11% of Salyersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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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