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.
A−History
History · Bangor
Bangor’s post office opened in 1855, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1902 on and old-book passages.
1855first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Quick answers
How Bangor began
When was Bangor founded?
1855
The Bangor post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 1,437171 years
How historic is Bangor?
A−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Bangor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bangor’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bangor is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bangor’s overall grade.
Founding era1855, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194022.3% of homes (±4.4) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 19 historic buildings, 125 per 10,000 residents · typical WI town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 77%
NewerOlder
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bangor’s 125 sits above most of its state (96% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 19 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 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 Bangor’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 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. 19102006From 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, 1855 to 1916
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1855Post officeThe Bangor post office opens
- 20th century
- 1902
In the archive1902 Business District - 1910
In the archiveCommercial street - Circa 1910 - 1916Born hereEugene A. Toepel is 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 album
2006
2006
2004On the National Register
1 listing protects 19 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
19
each building in a district counts
first listed
2022
Bangor Commercial Historic District
Districts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Bangor’s history
What year was Bangor founded?
The Bangor post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bangor rank for history?
Bangor is more historic than 77% 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 Bangor?
One place: the Bangor Commercial Historic District (listed 2022).
How old are the homes in Bangor?
22% of Bangor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1979.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.