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History · Forest

Forest’s post office opened in 1888

Most of Forest was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Forest began

When was Forest founded?

1888

The Forest post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 304138 years
Founding year: the first Forest post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Forest’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Forest are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Forest’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Forest, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Forest yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Forest is a village in West Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Forest had a population of 304. Forest Police Chief James Robert "Bob" Smith (Independent; born June 1931), with service since 1998 is the oldest elected official in the State of Louisiana, as of 2017. After thirty years as a mechanic for the United States Air Force, Smith began a civilian career with International Oil Company, based in Saudi Arabia. A North Carolina native, he retired to Forest, where his wife had formerly resided.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 355 to 304 (-14%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Forest, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Revised, Forest, LA Baptist Church IMG 7350 1 12013Revised, Forest, LA Baptist Church IMG 7350 1 1Helmer's Country Store, Forest, LA IMG 73512013Helmer's Country Store, Forest, LA IMG 7351Forest, LA, High School IMG 73472013Forest, LA, High School IMG 7347Forest City Hall, Forest, LA IMG 73542013Forest City Hall, Forest, LA IMG 7354First Baptist Church of Forest, LA IMG 73502013First Baptist Church of Forest, LA IMG 7350LAMap-doton-Forest2004LAMap-doton-Forest

Questions about Forest’s history

What year was Forest founded?

The Forest post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 (6), 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.