Thruston’s post office opened in 1886, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #114 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
Most of Thruston was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Its Register listing is the Alexander-Ford Farmhouse. Below: maps from 1952 on.
Founding year: the first Thruston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Thruston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thruston is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #114 of 142 in Kentucky. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thruston’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 Thruston’s 3.9 sits below most of its state (32% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 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 Thruston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Thruston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Thruston is an unincorporated community located in Daviess County in the U.S. state of Kentucky, northeast of Owensboro. As of the 2020 census, Thruston had a population of 2,234. The community is named after Algernon Sidney Thruston, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, who owned a plantation in the region.
Its first post office opened in 1886.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Thruston, 1886 to 1952
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Thruston had its own post office from 1886 to 1906.
Thruston
1886–1906
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Brownwood ManorColonial Mobile Estates
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Thruston’s history
What year was Thruston founded?
The Thruston post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Thruston rank for history?
Thruston is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #114 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 Thruston?
One place: the Alexander-Ford Farmhouse (listed 2025).
How old are the homes in Thruston?
2% of Thruston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1995.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
