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History · St. Matthews · established 1950

5 landmarks tell St. Matthews’s story

The public archives hold only 3 old photos of St. Matthews. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1950established
3old photos & papers
5historic places
From St. Matthews’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about St. Matthews’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Matthews’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Matthews’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the National Register

5 historic places in St. Matthews

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
11
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Ridgeway
in Kentucky
#90
by listings
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Federal2
Gothic Revival1
Italianate1
All 5 listings

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

The story

How St. Matthews came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Matthews.

Read it all →

Dating the arrival of American Indians to present-day Kentucky remains controversial, with estimates ranging from 40,000 to 10,000 years before the present. As with later European cultures, indigenous cultures were often divided near the falls of the Ohio River, which marked a transition zone in travel and settlement. During the late Woodland period (c. 1st century), this area was between the Ohioan Hopewell culture and the Illinois Crab Orchard culture that extended to the west. Later (c. 1200), it was the boundary between the Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures. During the 18th century, the area was claimed by various Indian tribes, including the Shawnee from the northwest and the Iroquois to the east; based in New York and Pennsylvania, the Iroquois used the Ohio Valley as a hunting ground by right of conquest.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Matthews, 1805 to 1950

Woven from the archive, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1805BuiltRidgeway is built
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Jefferson County - St. Matthews - ED 5…
  4. 20th century
  5. 1939In the archiveKentucky - Paducah through
  6. 1950
    FoundingSt. Matthews is established
By decade

St. Matthews, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1920snothing 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
1940s–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
Today2 recent
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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Jefferson County - St. Matthews - ED 56-6, ED 56-13, ED 56-14
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kentucky - Jefferson County - St. Matthews - ED 56-6, ED 56-13, ED 56-14, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to St. Matthews

Nobody well known was born in St. Matthews itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Weigh in
Has St. Matthews changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5) and Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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