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History · Le Grand

Le Grand’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold just one old photo of Le Grand. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1old images & papers
1recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

The first post office opened in 1896. The name honors William Le Grand Dickinson, who sold the railroad (the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad, later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Valley Division) land for the town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

built from the dates on the items below
1918Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Le Grand, Merce…Map
1920–1999Nothing yet. Family albums go here.
Be one of the first

Start Le Grand’s collection

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

1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Famous people from Le GrandWriters, athletes, leaders and more who were born in Le Grand.Meet them →
By decade

Le Grand, decade by decade

1910s1 paper
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Le Grand, Merced County, California, 1918, Plate 0001MapSanborn Fire Insurance Map from Le Grand, Merced County, Ca…1918
1920s–
1990s
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
Today1 photo
Le Grand station building, January 2008CommonsLe Grand station building, January 20082008
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Le Grand is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Le Grand has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Merced Theatre in Merced, 13.4 miles away.

Le Grand and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Le Grand. Tap a dot.
Merced TheatreLeggett HouseU.S. Post OfficeThomas H. Leggett HouseMaj. George Beecher Cook HouseKaehler-Rector House

Closest to Le Grand

Merced TheatreMerced · Built 193113.4miLeggett HouseMerced · Building13.4miU.S. Post OfficeMerced · Building13.5miThomas H. Leggett HouseMerced · Building13.5miMaj. George Beecher Cook HouseMerced · Built 188713.5mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Merced Theatre’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Le Grand?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Le Grand’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Chowchilla📜 Merced📜 Madera📜 Atwater

From Wikimedia Commons (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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