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History · Evergreen

Evergreen’s post office opened in 1854, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Oakwold Plantation House, the Bayou Rouge Baptist Church and the Lone Pine. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1919 on, and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
3on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Evergreen’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Evergreen began

When was Evergreen founded?

1854

The Evergreen post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 297 in 18802020 census: 215172 years
Founding year: the first Evergreen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Evergreen’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 384 in 1940; 215 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Evergreen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Evergreen’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 photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewClarendon Plantation: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Evergreen, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 384

Peaked at 384 in 1940; 215 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Evergreen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Evergreen.

Read it all →

First named "Bayou Ridge", the town's name was later changed to "Evergreen", inspired by its beautiful, evergreen magnolia trees. The first store in Evergreen was owned by Alanson Pearce and was located on the Barbreck plantation that had been established by his wife's grandfather Marsden Campbell. The town was chartered in 1869.

Evergreen was the site of an early renowned school in the area, the Evergreen Home Institute (1856), which later became Evergreen College, and then Evergreen High School in 1904.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Evergreen, 1833 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1833Born hereAlfred Briggs Irion is born here
  3. 1854Post officeThe Evergreen post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 384
  6. 1941Born hereLionel Aldridge is born here
  7. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Evergreen, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Clarendon PlantationDate?Clarendon Plantation
Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Evergreen2004LAMap-doton-Evergreen
On the map

Evergreen on the map, 1948 to 1993

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

Evergreen on the 1948 USGS mapEvergreen on the 1966 USGS mapEvergreen on the 1993 USGS map1948Bunkie 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 Evergreen.

Every building

Evergreen, building by building, 1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Evergreen fire insurance map, 1919, sheet 11919Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Clarendon Plantation
Retake this viewClarendon Plantation

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Evergreen

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Oakwold Plantation House
Oakwold Plantation HouseBayou Rouge Baptist ChurchLone Pine
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Queen Anne1
Oakwold Plantation HouseQueen Anne
Bayou Rouge Baptist ChurchGreek Revival
All 3 listings
Lone PineBuilding · listed 1982

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Evergreen

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Lionel AldridgeAmerican football player · b. 1941
Alfred Briggs IrionAmerican politician · b. 1833
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Evergreen’s post office has been open since 1854.

Gone or out of use
Evergreen High Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Evergreen’s history

What year was Evergreen founded?

The Evergreen post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Evergreen?

Three places: the Oakwold Plantation House (listed 1980), the Bayou Rouge Baptist Church (1980) and the Lone Pine (1982).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.