Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Estherwood

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Estherwood

Estherwood dates to 1816, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Estherwood was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listing is the Ellis Hoffpauir House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1910.

1816founded
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Estherwood’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Estherwood began

When was Estherwood founded?

1816

Estherwood dates its founding to 1816 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 544 in 19102020 census: 694210 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1889.The full story ↓

What stands out about Estherwood’s 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.Deep rootsEstablished in 1816: 210 years of Estherwood.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Estherwood’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewDowntownEstherwood: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Estherwood, 1816 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1816
    FoundingEstherwood is established
  3. 1889Post officeThe Estherwood post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Estherwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Estherwood.

Read it all →

The Estherwood area had two earlier names, Tortue, after the Indian chief, and Coulée Trief or Trive. The Coulée Trief name involves Jean-Baptiste Trief, a mysterious person believed to have been one of Jean Lafitte's pirates, who built a cabin on the coulee, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Crowley, Louisiana, about 1816. He was described as a "tall, dark, sinister-looking" man who wore large earrings like pirates once did.

There are several stories about how Estherwood got its name. A likely one is that it is the combination of two names: Wood, for a Dr. Wood who was once prominent in the area, and Esther, for the wife of a railroad executive. Another is the wood part may come from the fact that the trains stopped for fuel wood here.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Estherwood, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
DowntownEstherwoodDate?DowntownEstherwoodEstherwoodpontoonDate?Estherwoodpontoon
Today2 recent
HoffHouseWM2010HoffHouseWMLAMap-doton-Estherwood2004LAMap-doton-Estherwood
On the map

Estherwood on the map, 1949 to 1998

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

Estherwood on the 1949 USGS mapEstherwood on the 1955 USGS mapEstherwood on the 1971 USGS mapEstherwood on the 1983 USGS mapEstherwood on the 1998 USGS map1949Estherwood sheet · 1:31,680

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

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.

DowntownEstherwood
Retake this viewDowntownEstherwood

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Estherwood

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Ellis Hoffpauir House
Ellis Hoffpauir House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Ellis Hoffpauir HouseColonial Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Estherwood, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 889

Between 539 and 889 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Estherwood

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

See all →
Armand DuplantisSwedish-American pole vaulter · b. 1999
Addison RaeAmerican singer · b. 2000
Danneel AcklesAmerican actress · b. 1979
Dustin PoirierAmerican mixed martial artist · b. 1989
Daniel CormierAmerican sport wrestler and mixed martial artist · b. 1979
A
Angela KinseyAmerican actress · b. 1971

Questions about Estherwood’s history

What year was Estherwood founded?

In 1816, according to Wikidata. Estherwood’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1910 counted 544 people here.

What is on the National Register in Estherwood?

One place: the Ellis Hoffpauir House (listed 1997).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.