The story
Read it all →How Bangor came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Bangor.
The community was named after Bangor, Wales, because many of the early settlers were natives of Wales.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Bangor
17% of Bangor’s homes were built before 1940
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
What stands out about Bangor’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Then and nowOne place photographed years apart. Drag to compare.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1892 to 1922, drew every building in Bangor.On the map since 19093 editions of the USGS map, 1909 to 1983. Watch Bangor change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Bangor’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bangor’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Then & now
The same spot, 96 years apart
Drag across each photo to compare.
c. 19102006Every building
Bangor, building by building, 1892–1922
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1892Sheet 1 of 1Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Bangor in 1881
Passages that mention Bangor, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of La Crosse County, Wisconsin1881Read the page →
Read the text
of Campbell the narrow "Smith's Cooley." in town of Barre the narrow "Roberts Cooley," then the very extensive "Bostwick Valley," of several miles' length and with a great number of long side-issues. A narrow buc important side valley shoots out from La Crosse Valley in a southeasterly direction in the town of Bangor, known as "Dutch ^^llle3■." The balance of the passes in the bluffs further north lead to comparatively small, and at their termini, closed-up valleys, among which is "Sand Lake Cooley." in the town of Onalaska. and " S]iring Cooley " and "Long Cooley," in the town of Holland.
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.
Timeline
Bangor, 1902 to 1916
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Bangor, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1900s–1910s3 items
c. 19161920s–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 albumToday15 recent
2023Bangor schools-4
2021St. Paul’s Lutheran School WELS
2016Dairy cows catch some shade near Bangor in La Crosse …
2014Commercial street scene, circa 2014
2006Union House
2006Smith & Bosshard Building
2006Meyer Block
2006Elsen House hotel
2006Cottom Building
2006Commercial street
2006Commercial street buildings
2006Commercial Street and 16th Avenue
20061517 Commercial Street
20061516 Commercial Street
2004WIMap-doton-BangorOn the map
Bangor on the map, 1909 to 1983
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bangor. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1909Sparta 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 Bangor.
People over time
Bangor, census by census
Between 453 and 1,459 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bangor’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Irish Coulee SchoolschoolWebster Fieldairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bangor
Welsh CalvanisticWelsh Congregational
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Bangor’s history
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 Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.