Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1877.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives La Crosse’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, La Crosse is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of La Crosse’s overall grade.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so La Crosse’s 8.7 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.2 points). Two sources give 1876.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about La Crosse’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
La Crosse was founded in 1876, was named after the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin. La Crosse subsequently became the intended county seat, and county records were transferred there from the temporary county seat, nearby Rush Center. A county seat war ensued between the two communities, lasting until La Crosse was declared the permanent county seat and the construction of the county courthouse in 1888.
In the 1960s, La Crosse became a regional center of barbed wire collecting, leading to the establishment of the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum and the nicknaming of the city as "The Barbed Wire Capital of the World".
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
Places now gone
La Crosse’s post office has been open since 1877.
Gone or out of use
Hoover Landing Fieldairport
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about La Crosse’s history
What year was La Crosse founded?
In 1876, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. La Crosse’s post office opened in 1877, and the census of 1890 counted 513 people here.
How does La Crosse rank for history?
La Crosse is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in La Crosse?
One place: the Rush County Courthouse (listed 1972).
How old are the homes in La Crosse?
36% of La Crosse’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1955.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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2005