Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1926 on, and the census since 1900.
The La Farge post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Star (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Farge’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of La Farge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
La Farge is a village along the Kickapoo River in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 730 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1863. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 746 to 730 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereCharles R. Savage is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveLa Farge Lake and Dam uncompletedOne decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Farge. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of La Farge.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on La Farge’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 488 and 921 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Farge’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
La Farge’s post office has been open since 1863. Another post office, Star, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The La Farge post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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