A history of Smithland,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Smithland from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusSmithland is a home rule-class city in Livingston County, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. As of the 2020 census, Smithland had a population of 240. It is the county seat of Livingston County. Smithland is part of the Paducah metropolitan area.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 301 to 240 (-20%). Half of its homes were built before 1961.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Smithland yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Smithland’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewDoodstraf, SFA022824749, 1912: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Smithland
See all 4 →
Smithland, decade by decade
1990s
5 historic places in Smithland
5 places in Smithland are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Doodstraf, SFA022824749 (1912) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (6) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.