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Bayou Des Allemands and the town of Des Allemands, LouisianaPhoto: Lane Lefort, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Public domain
DHistory
History · Des Allemands

Des Allemands’ post office opened in 1964, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1980.

1964first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Des Allemands’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Des Allemands began

When was Des Allemands founded?

1964

The Des Allemands post office opened in 1964, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Allemands (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 2,920 in 19802020 census: 2,17962 years

How historic is Des Allemands?

D

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Des Allemands post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Des Allemands’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Des Allemands is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Des Allemands’ overall grade.
Founding era1964, from the first post office: founded 1945 or later, an older era than 2% of U.S. townsD−Homes built before 194011.1% of homes (±14.0) · typical LA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical LA town 3.8 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%
NewerOlder

Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Des Allemands’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (21% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±14.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Des Allemands’ 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.On the map since 18917 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1998. Watch Des Allemands change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Des Allemands’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDes Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 1921: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Des Allemands on the map, 1891 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Des Allemands. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Des Allemands on the 1891 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1932 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1940 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1952 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1967 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1972 USGS mapDes Allemands on the 1998 USGS map1891Hahnville sheet · 1:62,500

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

The story

How Des Allemands came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Des Allemands.

Read it all →

In 1721, John Law and the Company of the Indies settled Germans along the Mississippi River, north of Ouachas Lake. The area of the Germans was called les Allemands (the Germans) or Karlstein. The German Coast was in present-day St. Charles & St. John the Baptist parishes. Des Allemands means "of the Germans" or simply "Germans" in French.

The German Louisiana colony was originally up the Mississippi River at the Arkansas Post. But they experienced hostility from the Native Americans in that area, and moved to a location much closer to the colonial capital of New Orleans.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Des Allemands, 1868 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Allemands post office opens
  3. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1921In the archiveDes Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 1921
  6. 1964Post officeThe Allemands post office closes
  7. 1964Post officeThe Des Allemands post office opens
By decade

Des Allemands, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s2 items
Des Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 19211921Des Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 1921Federal Foods Field Des Allemands 19211921Federal Foods Field Des Allemands 1921
1930s–1990snothing yet
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
Today4 recent
Backlit moss2011Backlit mossLAMap-doton-Des Allemands2004LAMap-doton-Des AllemandsBayou Des Allemands and the town of2003Bayou Des Allemands and the town ofBayou Des Allemands and the town of2003Bayou Des Allemands and the town of
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.

Des Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 1921
Retake this viewDes Allemands Sugar Cane Fields 1921, 1921

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Des Allemands, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000198020002020Peak: 2,920

Between 2,179 and 2,920 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Des Allemands

Nobody well known was born in Des Allemands itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Kid OryAmerican jazz trombonist · b. 1886
Dave BartholomewAmerican musician, bandleader, composer, arrang… · b. 1918
Ed ReedAmerican football player · b. 1978
Justin JeffersonAmerican football player · b. 1999
Pokey ChatmanAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1969
Aaron LoupAmerican baseball player · b. 1987
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Des Allemands’s post office has been open since 1964. Another post office, Allemands, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Allemands
1868–1964
Des Allemands
1964–today
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Joe McHugh Oil and Gas Fieldoilfield
1cemetery inside Des Allemands
Shell Mound

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

ParadisIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBayou GaucheIts storyD

Questions about Des Allemands’ history

What year was Des Allemands founded?

The Des Allemands post office opened in 1964, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Des Allemands rank for history?

Des Allemands is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Des Allemands?

11% of Des Allemands’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1977.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.