La Grange was settled in 1819 on the site of an Indian trading post and was named for General La Fayette's ancestral home in France. La Fayette visited in 1824 and called it the "Beautiful Village." Its location on a bluff made it a natural military post, and during the Civil War it was occupied by Union forces from 1862-65. Before the war it was a center of wealth, education, and culture, and in 1862 it had two colleges, four academies, two newspapers, and 3,000 citizens.