The town was once known as
Joesville after its founder, Joe Huston. Established around 1798 (or possibly 1808) on the east side of where Clover Creek meets the Ohio River. The town was the site of the
ferry where, in 1816, Jacob Weatherholt piloted the family of
Abraham Lincoln, then seven, across the
Ohio River on its way to a
newly acquired farm in
Spencer County, Indiana. Around 1820 a building was constructed that became the town's first school and was shared by the
Baptist and
Methodist congregations as a church on Sundays. The town's first graveyard, known as the Scott Cemetery, was beside this building which was located south of present Murray Avenue and east of Cherry Street. The town was renamed Cloverport in 1828 after nearby Clover Creek. Seven years before, in 1821, the
Kentucky Legislature had built a toll road between the town and
Bowling Green. In 1829, the Baptist congregation built their own church. In 1831, a new graveyard, known as the Murray Graveyard, was established on the north side of Main Street near the Cherry Street intersection. The Methodist congregation built their own church in 1840 on east Huston Street. The old building then became a church for the town's black residents. The Methodist moved again in 1871 to a site on Elm Street. In 1892 Cloverport became the home of the maintenance shops for the Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad. The town raised $20,000 to bring the shops and donated ten acres for the location. The shops employed two hundred men at one time. The shop burned down on March 13, 1916, but was rebuilt. The shops stayed open until 1929 when the Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis was bought out by the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In 1959 the company merged with other companies to form the Ceramic Tile Division of
National Gypsum. This division then became known as American Olean Tile Company. Another fire struck Cloverport on March 14, 1910, and destroyed many homes on the east side of town. At the time, the closest fire truck was in
Owensboro and men from the Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad repair yard were credited with saving many homes. The Methodist church on Elm Street burned down in 1943. Two years later the congregation moved into a renovated building at the intersection of Main Street and Elm Street and was named Grant Memorial Church for their minister, Rev. W. A. Grant. In 1971, Grant Memorial's congregation merged with Lucille Memorial Presbyterian church and the
Evangelical United Brethren Church to form Cloverport United Methodist Church. This combined congregation purchased land for their new building in 1972 at their current site on south Elm Street.
Flooding Being a river town, Cloverport has been subjected to several floods since its founding. The
Ohio River Flood of 1884 had been what all other floods which have struck the city were compared to until 1937. A flood in January 1907 crested at two feet below the 1884 high water mark. The city was also struck by the
Great Flood of 1913. The Phelps' Button factory flooded leaving many out of work and many other families were forced to leave their homes. It was reported that the flood waters were seven feet over the Tar Fork bridge and neck deep on a horse at Hites Run. All of the homes across the river in
Tobinsport, Indiana were under water. The
Ohio River flood of 1937 saw seventy percent of the town's residents hit by the flood waters. The crest of the flood at the downstream
Cannelton Locks and Dam was measured at 60.8 feet. This is over six feet higher than the next highest flood, which was the
1945 flood that crested at 54.4 feet. Cloverport was also hit by large floods in
1997,
2011, and
2018. ==Historic sites==