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–Not graded
History · Lena

Lena dates to 1921, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1974 on, and the census since 1930.

1921founded
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lena’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lena began

When was Lena founded?

1921

Lena dates its founding to 1921 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 413 in 19302020 census: 743105 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Lena’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lena’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lena’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewWood Block Masonry Barn, No. 2: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Lena came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lena.

Read it all →

Originally known as Maple Valley, Lena owes its location to the railroads. The first white family at the site that became Lena was the French-Swiss immigrant Étienne Clement Roserens together with his French-Canadian wife Vitaline née Tessier, who established a homestead in October 1872. Their daughter Anna Rosera Hendricks was the first white child born in the settlement. Rosera Street in Lena is named after the family. Other early white settlers in this vicinity arrived in the late 1870s and consisted primarily of French Canadian immigrants. One French Canadian immigrant was Samuel LeRoy, also known as Samuel or Sam King. King homesteaded land in 1872 and donated land for the first schoolhouse. As was common in other areas populated by French-Canadians during this era, most of the Maple Valley residents engaged in small-scale logging, concentrating their work and their homes along Jo…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lena, 1921 to 1974

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1921
    FoundingLena is established
  3. 1936Born hereRon Klimko is born here
  4. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lena, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Wood Block Masonry Barn, No. 2Date?Wood Block Masonry Barn, No. 2Wood Block Masonry Barn, No. 1Date?Wood Block Masonry Barn, No. 1
Today4 recent
Lena Wisconsin 22022Lena Wisconsin 2Lena Wisconsin 12022Lena Wisconsin 1Lena Wisconsin - Rosera 22022Lena Wisconsin - Rosera 2Lena Wisconsin - Rosera 12022Lena Wisconsin - Rosera 1
On the map

Lena on the map in 1974

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lena.

Lena on the 1974 USGS map1974Lena sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lena.

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.

Wood Block Masonry Barn, No. 2
Retake this viewWood Block Masonry Barn, No. 2

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lena, census by census

010020030040050060019401960198020002020Peak: 590

Between 413 and 590 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lena’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Birch Grove SchoolschoolLow Valley SchoolschoolSunny Brook SchoolschoolSunshine Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lena
LenaSaint Charles

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.

Little RiverIts storyBStilesIts storyCPound1 historic placeASpruceIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lena’s history

What year was Lena founded?

In 1921, according to Wikidata. the census of 1930 counted 413 people here.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.