Guthrie, Kentucky
city in Kentucky, USA
Guthrie is a home rule-class city in Todd County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 1,330 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Guthrie is located at 36°38′51″N 87°10′15″W (36.647396, -87.170725).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2), all land.
History
The present location of Guthrie was the site of the Pondy Woods stagecoach stop in the 1840s; the community around it may have also been called State Line for a time, from the nearby Tennessee state line. The town was named for former Representative James Guthrie, the president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad at its founding in 1867. Guthrie was formally incorporated by the Kentucky Assembly in 1876. The town is also the birthplace of the first United States Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,469 people, 593 households, and 377 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,079.5 inhabitants per square mile (416.8/km2).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Guthrie, Kentucky” as city in Kentucky, USA. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Kentucky, USA. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3182203. VIAF identifies the subject as 154877485. The Library of Congress control number is n88155797. Authority coordinates are 36.648, -87.171. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1867, 1876 and 2000.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Guthrie, Kentucky”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Guthrie, Kentucky primary sources, Guthrie, Kentucky archive and Guthrie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Guthrie, Kentucky”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Guthrie, Kentucky” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.