County Past
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Mason County, Kentucky

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
43historic places
—earliest paper
1789formed
17,120pop. 2020
5cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 43 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970. Most listings are in or near Maysville, Mays Lick, Washington.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Kentucky is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Mason titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

27 of 43 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

43 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Armstrong RowMaysvilleDistrict1984
Bracken Baptist ChurchMinervaBuilding1983
Courthouse Square and Mechanics' Row Historic DistrictMaysvilleDistrict1975
Cox Building, TheMaysvilleBuilding2011
Cox-Hord HouseMaysvilleBuilding1978
Durrett, Richard, HouseMaysvilleBuilding2018
Forman, Tom, HouseWashingtonBuilding1987
Fox FarmMays LickSite1983
GAR MonumentMaysvilleObject2018
Gillespie Site (15MS50)Mays LickSite1985
Helena United Methodist ChurchHelenaBuilding2010
Lee HouseMaysvilleBuilding1977
Lee's Creek Covered BridgeDoverStructure1976
May's Lick Negro SchoolMay's LickBuilding2018
Mays Lick Consolidated SchoolMays LickBuilding1982
Maysville Downtown Historic DistrictMaysvilleDistrict1982
Maysville Downtown Historic District (Boundary Increase)MaysvilleDistrict2017
Maysville-Aberdeen BridgeMaysvilleStructure1983
Milton MillsOrangeburgBuilding1987
Moran, Ben, HouseMoranburgBuilding1987
Newdigate-Reed HouseMaysvilleBuilding1975
Old Library BuildingMaysvilleBuilding1974
Peers, Henry Perviance, HouseMaysvilleBuilding1998
Phillips' FollyMaysvilleBuilding1978
Poague HouseMays LickBuilding1987
Pogue HouseMaysvilleBuilding2005
Point Au ViewMaysvilleBuilding1985
Pyles Site (15MS28)Mays LickSite1984
Richeson, John Brett, HouseMaysvilleBuilding1994
Russell TheatreMaysvilleBuilding2006
Rust HouseMaysvilleBuilding1978
Spring House at Flat ForkFlat ForkBuilding1987
Springhouse in Mays LickMays LickBuilding1987
Sroufe HouseDoverBuilding2016
Stone Barn on Lee's CreekMays LickBuilding1987
Valley Pike Covered BridgeMaysvilleStructure1976
Van Meter SiteMays LickSite1985
Washington Historic DistrictWashingtonDistrict1970
Washington Historic District (Boundary Increase)WashingtonDistrict1976
Washington Opera HouseMaysvilleBuilding1975
West 2nd Street Historic DistrictMaysvilleDistrict2017
West Fourth Street DistrictMaysvilleDistrict1974
WoodlawnMaysvilleBuilding1978

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Mason was formed in 1789 (1789-05-01) from Bourbon.

MASON created by Virginia from BOURBON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Mason County population from 1790 to 2020 (Census historical series).

21k12k2,729179018001840188019101920196020002020
17901800182018401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
2,72912,18213,58815,71918,22220,46920,44617,76019,06618,48618,45417,76516,80017,120

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

5 cemeteries and 6 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 5 of 5 listed
NameLatLon
Charleston Bottom Cemetery38.69145-83.81159
Finch Cemetery38.5409-83.79492
Locust Grove Cemetery38.75479-83.89242
Rosemont Cemetery38.75256-83.87687
Saint Patricks Cemetery38.6209-83.80547
Historical populated places — 6 of 6
NameLatLon
Bates38.6345-83.70382
Dexter38.62345-83.89775
Manley38.51009-83.90168
Shawnee Hill38.62919-83.79694
Simon Kenton Acres38.63053-83.80137
Taylors Mill38.57508-83.73239

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Mason County, Kentucky

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.