9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 34 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1830.
Founding year: the first Taylorsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Taylorsville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taylorsville is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. 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 Taylorsville’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 Taylorsville’s 321 sits above most of its state (89% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% 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 (±14.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Taylorsville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Taylorsville, building by building, 1886–1916
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Taylorsville was founded in 1799 on the land of Richard Taylor, father of US President Zachary Taylor. Roughly 60 acres (240,000 m2) of land was taken by the Shelby County Court on Taylor's motion, and soon the town was named after Taylor himself. In 1814 the town of Taylorsville was admitted to record by the Shelby County Court. Spencer County was created in 1824.
William Quantrill, the famous Confederate guerrilla raider, was killed by Union troops near the town in 1865, just before the end of the American Civil War.
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.
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.
The Taylorsville post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Taylorsville rank for history?
Taylorsville is more historic than 93% 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 Taylorsville?
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Beechland (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Taylorsville Historic District, with 34 contributing buildings. 48 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Taylorsville?
27% of Taylorsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.6 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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.
1933
1933
1933
