The story
Read it all →How Lagrange came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Lagrange.
LaGrange and surrounding towns were the site of a great forest fire in 1947.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Lagrange
Lagrange’s post office opened in 1833, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1840.
1833first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Lagrange began
When was Lagrange founded?
1833
The Lagrange post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Oxford (1826) and Down East (1829), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 336 in 18402020 census: 635193 years
Founding year: the first Lagrange post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Lagrange’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Lagrange’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lagrange’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices and old corners
Lagrange’s post office has been open since 1833. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Oxford
Down East
Lagrange
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
South Lagrange
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Lagrange, 1826 to 1933
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1826Post officeThe Oxford post office opens
- 1829Post officeThe Oxford post office closes
- 1829Post officeThe Down East post office opens
- 1833Post officeThe Down East post office closes
- 1833Post officeThe Lagrange post office opens
- 20th century
- 1933
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
From the old history books
What they wrote about Lagrange in 1882
Passages that mention Lagrange, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 399Read the page →
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Within the corporate limits of the town of Lagrange, as per act of incorporation dated February 11, 1832, is embraced what was then known as the plantations of Oxford and Hammond, bounded on the north by Kilmarnock (now called Medford), on the east by Howland and Township One (now called Edinburg), on the west by Bradford and iSIilton (now called Orneville), and on the south by Township No. 3 (now Alton). It contains
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 401Read the page →
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March 28, 1843, the relation that had existed between .he church in Bradford and the branch in Lagrange was dissolved, and a new church was organized as "the First Free-will Baptist church in Lagrange." This church is still maintained, but its pulpit is just now vacant. In 1879 the first meeting-house in the town was built by the society. In 1880 a second house of worship was erected and finished outside, but is not yet finished inside.
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History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 401Read the page →
Read the text
March 28, 1843, the relation that had existed between the church in Bradford and the branch in Lagrange was dissolved, and a new church was organized as " the First Free-will Baptist church in Lagrange." This church is still maintained, but its pulpit is just now vacant. In 1879 the first meeting-house in the town was built by the society. In 1880 a second house of worship was erected and finished outside, but is not yet finished inside.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 387Read the page →
Read the text
Howland is bounded on the north and northwest by Maxfield; on the northeast by Mattamiscontis; on the east by the Penobscot, beyond which lies Enfield; on the south by Edinburg and a very narrow strip of Lagrange; and on the west by Lagrange. At the northwest corner it is touched by the town of Medford, in Piscataquis county. Its boundaries, except on the river side, are in five straight lines. That on the northeast is not quite
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
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Lagrange on the map, 1933 to 1983
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lagrange. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1933Boyd Lake sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lagrange.
People over time
Lagrange, census by census
Between 336 and 747 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lagrange’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Lagrange
Nobody well known was born in Lagrange itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
P
Percy SpencerAmerican engineer and inventor · b. 1894C
Corey BeaulieuAmerican guitarist · b. 1983T
Tabitha KingAmerican writer · b. 1949
E
Elenore AbbottAmerican Art Nouveau book illustrator, scenic d… · b. 1875
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Lagrange’s history
What year was Lagrange founded?
The Lagrange post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 Wikipedia, 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.