The story
Read it all →How La Grange came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of La Grange.
The community was named after the manor of Marquis de la Fayette. "La Grange" is French for "the farm."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · La Grange
La Grange’s post office opened in 1843, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 2000.
1843first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How La Grange began
When was La Grange founded?
1843
The La Grange post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Heart Prairie (1840), Round Prairie (1840) and Lagrange (1843), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,444 in 20002020 census: 2,472183 years
How historic is La Grange?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first La Grange post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives La Grange’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, La Grange is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of La Grange’s overall grade.
Founding era1843, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194019.8% of homes (±9.8) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 62%
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 La Grange’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin 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 B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.8 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 La Grange’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of La Grange are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s La Grange, and 3 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18925 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1971. Watch La Grange change.Deep rootsA post office since 1843: 183 years of La Grange.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start La Grange’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Grange’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, old corners and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Heart Prairie
Round Prairie
Lagrange
Lauderdale
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Heart PrairieLauderdaleLauderdale Shores
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside La Grange
Heart PrairieRound Prairie
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
La Grange on the map, 1892 to 1971
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Grange. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Whitewater 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 La Grange.
From the old history books
What they wrote about La Grange in 1882
Passages that mention La Grange, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources...its war record, biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers1882 · page 472Read the page →
Read the text
March 21, 1843, the town of La Grange was detached from the remaining ten-itory (Town 4, Range 16), leaving under the name of Elkhorn Town 3, Range 16, it being the present town of Sugar Creek, less a single section. Its boundaries remained unchanged until February 2, 1846, at which time, by act of the Legislatiu-e, a new town of Elkhorn was incorporated, which embraced but a single section of the original town, viz.. Section 36, in Town 3, Range 16. By that act, the present town of Elkhorn was established. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the county of Walworth comprised in Section 36, in the town of Elkhorn; Section 1, in the town of Delavan: Section 6, in the town of Geneva, and Section 31, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources...its war record, biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers1882 · page 327Read the page →
Read the text
The subdivisions of the original town of Elkhorn have been as follows: Whitewater, Towns 3 and 4, Range 15 east, was set off into a town August 13, 1840. Richmond, Town 3, Range 15 east, was set off from Whitewater January 12, 1841. La Grange, Town 4, Range 16 east, was detached from Elkhorn March 21, 1843. Sugar Creek was incorporated from what remained of the original town of Elkliorn February 2, 1846, being Town 3, Range 16 east, with the exception of Section 36, which was reserved as a part of the present town of Elkhorn, which was formed at the date last named.
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
La Grange, 1840 to 1902
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1840Post officeThe Heart Prairie post office opens
- 1840Post officeThe Round Prairie post office opens
- 1843Post officeThe Round Prairie post office closes
- 1843Post officeThe Lagrange post office opens
- 1892
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 20th century
- 1902Post officeThe Heart Prairie post office closes
- 1902Post officeThe Lagrange post office closes
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 albumPeople over time
La Grange, census by census
Between 2,444 and 2,472 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Grange’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to La Grange
Nobody well known was born in La Grange itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about La Grange’s history
What year was La Grange founded?
The La Grange post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does La Grange rank for history?
La Grange is more historic than 62% 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 La Grange?
20% of La Grange’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 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.