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B−History
History · L'Anse

L'Anse’s post office opened in 1875, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1967 on.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From L'Anse’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How L'Anse began

When was L'Anse founded?

1875

The L'Anse post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,874151 years

How historic is L'Anse?

B−

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first L'Anse post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives L'Anse’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, L'Anse is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of L'Anse’s overall grade.
Founding era1875, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194027.1% of homes (±5.7) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 48%
NewerOlder

Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so L'Anse’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 L'Anse’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start L'Anse’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how L'Anse’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How L'Anse came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of L'Anse.

Read it all →

French colonists had established a fur trading post here as a part of New France and a Jesuit mission, naming it L'Anse. In French, L'Anse translates as "the cove" or "the bay", a reference to its location in on the southern portion of L'Anse Bay, a portion of the larger Keweenaw Bay, at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The modern-day village grew around this French trading post.

Following treaties with the United States in the 19th century, the Ojibwa/Chippewa ceded extensive amounts of land in Michigan. The L'Anse Indian Reservation was established by the U.S. here as the largest and the oldest in Michigan.

In 1896, the village was completely burned to the ground by a deadly fire which left many homeless.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

L'Anse, 1882 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Born hereCora Reynolds Anderson is born here
  3. 1893Born hereFrank Eugene Hook is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1933Born hereSheila E. Hixson is born here
  6. 1943Born hereJim Manning is born here
  7. 1967In the archiveSOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A trackage on January 8, 1967
By decade

L'Anse, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s1 item
SOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A trackage on January 8, 19671967SOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A trackage on Ja…
1970s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
LAnseMichiganParkLakeSuperior2010LAnseMichiganParkLakeSuperiorLAnseMichiganPanoramaKeweenawBayLakeSuperiorUS412010LAnseMichiganPanoramaKeweenawBayLakeSuperiorUS41LAnseMichiganIntersectionUS412010LAnseMichiganIntersectionUS41LAnseMichiganDowntown2010LAnseMichiganDowntownCanyon Falls2007Canyon Falls
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

SOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A trackage on January 8, 1967
Retake this viewSOO GP9 2411 at L'Anse, MI on ex-DSS&A trackage on January 8, 1967, 1967

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on L'Anse’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

4 famous people were born in L'Anse

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Cora Reynolds AndersonAmerican politician · b. 1882
Frank Eugene HookAmerican politician · b. 1893
Sheila E. HixsonAmerican politician · b. 1933
J
Jim ManningAmerican baseball player · b. 1943

Questions about L'Anse’s history

What year was L'Anse founded?

The L'Anse post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does L'Anse rank for history?

L'Anse is more historic than 48% 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.

How old are the homes in L'Anse?

27% of L'Anse’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1967.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.