Lagro’s post office opened in 1834, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, the F. & A.M. Tuscan Lodge No. 143 and the I.O.R.M. Hall, Tonkawa No. 326. Its Register listings are the St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, the F. & A.M. Tuscan Lodge No. 143 and the I.O.R.M. Hall, Tonkawa No. 326. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1850.
The Lagro post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Legros (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 293 in 18502020 census: 349192 years
Founding year: the first Lagro post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Lagro’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was named after Le Gris, a Miami Chief. The Lagro post office has been in operation since 1893.
The National Register of Historic Places listed St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in 1999 and the Masonic Temple and the Red Men Hall in 2020.
Beginning in 1929, one of the main industries in Wabash County was rock wool production. As of 1937 at least five production facilities had been built in Wabash county, two of which were in or near Lagro.
Passages that mention Lagro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Wabash County Indiana (Volume 2)1914 · page 614Read the page →
Read the text
L. M. Props. One of the flourishing industries of the village of Lagro, Indiana, which adds materially to its importance as a center of business and manufacturing activity, is the Lagro Milling Company, the proprietor of which, L. M. Props, is known as one of the substantial men connected with commercial lines here. He has been a resident of Lagro for only six years, yet during this period of time has impressed himself favorably upon the people of this locality, and his energy, his good business judgment and his straightforward methods of doing busi¬
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Wabash County Indiana (Volume 2)1914 · page 728Read the page →
Read the text
bringing in the firewood. While attending that school he sat on a rough slab bench, wrote with a goosequill pen and studied the three Rs, which constituted the bulk of the curriculum in those day. After the family moved to Lagro he attended a one-room school house of frame construc¬ tion. His home was in Lagro until 1870, and during his early youth he had assisted his father in the old grain warehouse situated on the canal.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Lagro, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Lagro’s post office has been open since 1834. Another post office, Legros, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Lagro
1834–today
Legros
1869–1869
18301930today
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lagro
Lagro Independent Order of Odd FellowsSaint Patrick
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lagro’s history
What year was Lagro founded?
The Lagro post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Lagro?
Three places: the St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church (listed 1999), the F. & A.M. Tuscan Lodge No. 143 (2020) and the I.O.R.M. Hall, Tonkawa No. 326 (2020).
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (7), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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