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Shelby County, Kentucky

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

—newspaper titles

—digitized titles

142historic places

—earliest paper

1792formed

48,065pop. 2020

13cemeteries

—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 142 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1972; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Shelbyville, Clay Village, Simpsonville.

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 Shelby titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

123 of 142 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

142 listed properties

Property	City	Type	Listed
Allen Dale Farm	Shelbyville	Building	1983
Allen, J. B., House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Ballard, William H., House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Bank of Simpsonville	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Basket Farm	Clay Village	Building	1988
Bayne House	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Bethel AME Church	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Bethel Church	Clay Village	Building	1988
Bird Octagonal Mule Barn	Cropper	Building	1988
Bird's Nest	Cropper	Building	1988
Bird, Philomen, House	Bagdad	Building	1988
Blades, William, House	Bagdad	Building	1988
Bland Farm	Bagdad	District	1988
Blaydes House	Bagdad	Building	1988
Booker, Samuel, House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Booker-Giltner House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Brown, Cameron, Farm	Shelbyville	District	1988
Brown, John C., House	Mulberry	Building	1988
Bryan House	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Buck Creek Rosenwald School	Finchville	Building	2013
Building at Jct. of KY 395 and 1779	Bagdad	Building	1988
Burton House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Burton, David, House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Caldwell House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Calloway House	Eminence	Building	1988
Carnegie Public Library	Shelbyville	Building	1985
Carpenter House	Clark Station	Building	1988
Carriss's Feed Store	Southville	Building	1988
Carriss's Store	Southville	Building	1988
Chiles-Bailey House	Bagdad	Building	1988
Church of the Annunciation	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Clay, Henry, School	Clay Village	Building	1988
Coca-Cola Plant	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Collins House	Todds Point	Building	1988
Courtney House	Finchville	Building	1988
Crockett, John Edward, House	Mulberry	Building	1988
Cross Keys Tavern Kitchen and Quarters	Shelbyville	Building	1987
Dale, John, House	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Davis, E. M., Farm	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Dependency on Mulberry Creek	Shelbyville	Building	1987
Duvall, Marene, House	Finchville	Building	1988
East Shelbyville District	Shelbyville	District	1985
Ellis, Samuel, House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Figg, Bushrod, House	Olive Branch	Building	1988
Fry, Froman, Farm	Southville	Building	1988
Fry, L. C., Farm	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Frye, C. E., Farm	Southville	Building	1988
Fullenwider House	Todds Point	Building	1988
Fullenwielder, Peter, House	Shelbyville	Building	1987
Glass, S. D., House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Goodman, J. W., House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Graham House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Grasslands	Finchville	Building	1977
Gray House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Grove Hill Cemetery Chapel	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Hansbrough, John G. and William, House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Harbison House	Scotts Station	Building	1988
Harbison House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Hedden House	Harrisonville	Building	1988
Helmwood Hall	Shelbyville	Building	1986
Hinton-Scearce House	Shelbyville	Building	2009
Hornsby Bridge	Eminence	Structure	1988
Hornsby, John A., House	Eminence	Building	1988
Hornsby, John A., House (Boundary Increase)	Eminence	District	1989
Huss, M. W., House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Jackson, Eli, House	Eminence	Building	1988
Johnston House	Clay Village	Building	1988
King, M. J., House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Knight-Stout House	Finchville	Building	1975
Lincoln Institute Complex	Simpsonville	District	1988
Logan House	Finchville	Building	1988
Long, D. T., House	Scotts Station	Building	1988
Martin House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
McMicken House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Middleton, Henri, House	Peytona	Building	1988
Money Farm	Finchville	Building	1988
Montgomery House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Morris, Dr. William, Office and House	Southville	Building	1988
Moxley Farm	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Muir House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Nash, Dr., House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Neal-Hamblen House	Chestnut Grove	Building	1988
Newton House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Old Stone Inn	Simpsonville	Building	1976
Olive Branch Methodist Episcopal Church	Finchville	Building	1988
Owen, Brackett, House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Payne House	Mount Eden	Building	1988
Pemberton Farm	Clark	Building	1988
Pickett, James A., House	Finchville	Building	1988
Pugh House	Southville	Building	1988
Radcliffe-Duvall Farm	Finchville	Building	1988
Ramsey House	Southville	Building	1988
Redmon House	Bagdad	Building	1988
Rice House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Robertson House	Hemp Ridge	Building	1988
Rodgers House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Royalty-Smith Farm	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Saffell Funeral Home	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Salem Baptist Church	Southville	Building	1988
Scearce-Roush House	Simpsonville	Building	2017
Science Hill School	Shelbyville	District	1975
Scott’s Station Interurban Power House	Shelbyville	Building	2025
Seventh Street Historic District	Shelbyville	District	1985
Shady Rest	Clay Village	Building	1988
Shelby Academy	Finchville	Building	1975
Shelby County Courthouse and Main Street Commercial District	Shelbyville	District	1978
Shelby County Courthouse and Main Street Commercial District (Boundary Increase)	Shelbyville	District	1985
Shelbyville L & N Railroad Depot	Shelbyville	Building	1975
Shropshire Farm	Hemp Ridge	Building	1988
Simpsonville Christian Church	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Simpsonville Methodist Church	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Sleadd, William, Farm	Hooper	Building	1988
Snook House	Mulberry	Building	1988
Snook, Van B., House	Cropper	Building	1988
St. John United Methodist Church	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Stapleton Farm	Bagdad	Building	1988
Stewart, G. W., House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Stone House on Clear Creek	Shelbyville	Building	1987
Sturgeon-Gregg House	Simpsonville	Building	1984
Swindler House	Cropper	Building	1988
Tevis Cottage	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Thomas House	Mulberry	Building	1988
Thomas, William J., House	Mulberry	Building	1988
Threlkeld, Thomas, House	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Tindall House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Todd, Charles and Letitia Shelby, House	Shelbyville	Building	1975
Undulata	Shelbyville	Building	1980
Vanatta House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Venable-Chase House	Shelbyville	Building	1988
Waddy Bank Building	Waddy	Building	1978
Waddy Historic District	Waddy	District	1988
Ware, Charles, House	Harrisonville	Building	1988
Ware, Shelby D., House	Hemp Ridge	Building	1988
Washburn, Benjamin, House	Shelbyville	Building	1977
Weakley, Thomas, House	Clay Village	Building	1988
Weissinger Mule Barn	Shelbyville	Building	1988
West Shelbyville District	Shelbyville	District	1985
White House	Christianburg	Building	1988
Wickland	Shelbyville	Building	1984
Wise House	Mount Eden	Building	1988
Wright House	Simpsonville	Building	1988
Young, Whitney M., Jr., Birthplace NHL	Simpsonville	Building	1972

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Shelby was formed in 1792 (1792-09-01) from Jefferson.

SHELBY created from JEFFERSON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Shelby County population from 1800 to 2020 (Census historical series).

1800	1820	1840	1860	1880	1900	1920	1940	1950	1960	1980	2000	2020
8,191	21,047	17,768	16,433	16,813	18,340	18,532	17,759	17,912	18,493	23,328	33,337	48,065

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

13 cemeteries and 4 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 13 of 13 listed

Name	Lat	Lon
Antioch Cemetery	38.25114	-85.33459
Beech Creek Cemetery	38.11367	-85.09578
Beech Ridge Cemetery	38.21984	-85.022
Buck Creek Cemetery	38.14694	-85.3322
Carpenter Cemetery	38.08616	-85.10868
Fairview Cemetery	38.28516	-85.34887
Flat Rock Cemetery	38.28674	-85.4169
Gill Cemetery	38.33748	-85.09112
Grove Hill Cemetery	38.2059	-85.2069
Hebron Cemetery	38.27769	-85.29019
Magruder Cemetery	38.34615	-85.14792
Picketts Cemetery	38.1398	-85.29523
Saffell Calvary Cemetery	38.21757	-85.22107

Historical populated places — 4 of 4

Name	Lat	Lon
Colletts	38.15126	-84.04796
Flat Rock	38.28621	-85.41639
North Benson Hills	38.25936	-85.0095
Sunnyside	38.11265	-85.23968

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 Shelby County, Kentucky

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