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History · Woodburn

Woodburn’s post office opened in 1843, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Dr. William Robb House and the Polk House. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1880.

1843first post office
2on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Woodburn’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Woodburn began

When was Woodburn founded?

1843

The Woodburn post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 197 in 18802020 census: 303183 years
Founding year: the first Woodburn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Woodburn’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Deep rootsA post office since 1843: 183 years of Woodburn.
★ What stands out · Timeline

Woodburn, 1843 to 1951

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1843Post officeThe Woodburn post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1916In the archiveC-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old …
  5. 1935Born hereHarry B. Gray is born here
  6. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Woodburn came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Woodburn.

Read it all →

Woodburn began as a hamlet known as "Mason's Inn," which served as a stop along the stagecoach road that roughly followed what is now U.S. Route 31W. It is believed to have gotten its current name from a nearby forest that had been destroyed by fire. The L&N established a depot at the site in 1859, initially calling it "New Woodburn," but reverting simply to "Woodburn" by 1864. A townsite was platted next to the depot in 1865, and the city was incorporated the following year. The oldest grave in the Woodburn Cemetery is dated 1854.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Woodburn, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s6 items
C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…c/o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, [...] years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916c/o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…c/o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, [...] years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …1916c/o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Dani…
1920s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Woodburn on the map, 1951 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Woodburn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Woodburn on the 1951 USGS mapWoodburn on the 1979 USGS map1951Woodburn sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Woodburn.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

C-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …
Retake this viewC-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, Ky. Lester Daniel, (...) years old and 17-year old cousin stripping tobacco. See …, 1916

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Woodburn’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Woodburn

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Dr. William Robb House
Dr. William Robb HousePolk House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek1
Italianate1
Dr. William Robb HouseGreek
All 2 listings
Polk HouseBuilding · listed 1979

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Woodburn, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 355

Between 197 and 355 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Woodburn’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Woodburn’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewC-o W.A. Daniel - Route 2 - Woodburn, K…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Woodburn’s history

What year was Woodburn founded?

The Woodburn post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Woodburn?

Two places: the Dr. William Robb House (listed 1979) and the Polk House (1979).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.