After Stephen Farrow purchased the ferry from Beeman, the name was changed to Farrowtown.

The name Kampsville was made official on March 6, 1872, and refers to Michael A. Kamp, who served as president of the village board and was also a postmaster at Silver Creek, north of Kampsville.

The village is the base of operations for the Center for American Archeology, an educational and research organization dedicated to the archeological understanding of the Native Americans and of the European settlers in the region.

It contains exhibits demonstrating evidence of 7,000 years of human habitation excavated at the Koster Site in nearby Greene County.

The racial makeup of the village was 91.29% White, 1.29% Native American, and 7.42% from two or more races.

27.27% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.36% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.