Le Grand is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Merced County, California, about 14 miles east-southeast of Merced, the county seat, at an elevation of roughly 250 feet in the San Joaquin Valley. About 1,600 residents live in the community, with the population recorded at 1,592 in the 2020 census. Le Grand's rural, family-oriented character and its agricultural surroundings place it firmly among the Central Valley's smaller farming towns. The town owes its origins to the railroad. Le Grand began to develop around 1896, when the Santa Fe Railroad bypassed the nearby settlement of Plainsburg and built its line through the area. The community was named for William Le Grand Dickinson, who sold the railroad — then the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad, later part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's Valley Division — the land on which the town was laid out. The first post office opened the same year, anchoring the new townsite. Agriculture has defined Le Grand ever since. The establishment of a local irrigation district brought diversified farming to the surrounding countryside, and today alfalfa, corn, tomatoes, grapes, almonds, and other row crops grow across the valley floor around town. Public education is split between the Le Grand Union Elementary School District and the Le Grand Union High School District, serving the community's students. Le Grand's location along State Route 140 and the railroad corridor places it within easy reach of Merced and the broader Central Valley. Housing consists mainly of modest single-family homes and rural acreage, and most residents own their homes. The community's compact, working-town layout, its farms and orchards, and its position between the valley and the Sierra foothills keep its character rooted in agriculture and railroading.