The history of LaGrange College is closely associated with the history of the City of LaGrange and Troup County. When the vast tract of land lying between the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers was secured by the Indian Springs Treaty of 1825 and was opened for settlement in 1827, one of the five counties formed on the western border of the state was named Troup in honor of Governor George Michael Troup.

An act was passed by the Georgia Legislature on December 24, 1827, providing for the selection of a county seat. It was named “LaGrange” after the country estate of the Marquis de Lafayette, the American Revolutionary War hero who had visited the region in 1825 as the guest of Governor Troup. The site for the town of LaGrange was purchased in 1828, and the town was incorporated on December 18, 1828. On December 26, 1831, the charter for the LaGrange Female Academy was granted at the state capitol, then in Milledgeville.

In 1831 Andrew Jackson was president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was 22 years old. The Creek Indians had been moved out of this area of the state only six years earlier. The only other college in the state was Franklin College, now the University of Georgia.

In 1847 the charter for the school was amended and the school became the LaGrange Female Institute with power to confer degrees. The name was changed to LaGrange Female College in 1851, and in 1934 it was changed to LaGrange College. The College became officially coeducational in 1953.

The first location of the school was in a large white building at what is now 406 Broad Street. The school moved to its present location on "the Hill," the highest geographical point in LaGrange, after the construction of the building now known as Smith Hall in 1860.

The College was sold to the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1856. Today it is an institution of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.

LaGrange College offers the Bachelor of Arts degree with nineteen (19) majors, the Bachelor of Science degree in five (5) areas, the Bachelor of Music degree in three (3) areas, the Bachelor of Business Administration, and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.  The graduate programs offered are the Master of Arts degree in Teaching, the Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction, the Specialist in Education degree in Teacher Leadership, the Specialist in Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction, the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, the Master of Arts in Philanthropy and Development, and the Master of Science and Master of Arts in Strength and Conditioning. The Evening program offers the Bachelor of Arts degree.

LaGrange College operates on the modified (4-1-4) semester system. The summer session is composed of two (2) part-sessions and one full through-session. All credits earned are semester hour credits.

The College draws more than half of its student body from Georgia. However, students from at least one-third of the other states in the U.S. and from abroad nourish a rich cosmopolitan and international community that includes various religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Students also are provided diversity opportunities through travel courses, field study programs, service-learning, and internships. Students in the College's Education and Nursing departments receive supervised learning experiences in many area schools and medical facilities, respectively. Campus art exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and varsity and intramural sports add to the cultural enrichment and recreational opportunities offered by the College. 

The College is located in the town of LaGrange, Georgia, which has a population of 26,000. Nearby are Callaway Gardens, the Warm Springs Foundation, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House. The West Point Dam on the Chattahoochee River provides one of the largest lakes in the region, with waterfronts and a marina within the city limits of LaGrange.