Founding year: the first Golden Meadow post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Golden Meadow’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Golden Meadow is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Golden Meadow’s overall grade.
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 Golden Meadow’s 5.4 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.4 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 Golden Meadow’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Golden Meadow yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Golden Meadow (French: Canal de Yankee) is a town along Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,761 in 2020. It is part of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area. Its main source of revenue is the oil and gas industry. The fishing and seafood industries also have strong economic impacts, with charter fishing, restaurants, and lodging actively serving patrons. The town was once known as a speed trap, but it has since been bypassed by Hwy 3235 and city traffic has been reduced to mostly locals; however, the speed limit is reduced to 50 mph on Hwy 3235 and said highway is still patrolled heavily. As in other places in Louisiana,…
Its first post office opened in 1923. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,101 to 1,761 (-16%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Golden Meadow, 1894 to 1997
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Golden Meadow. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1894Lake Felicity 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 Golden Meadow.
Every building
Golden Meadow, building by building, 1922
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.
1922Sheet 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.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Golden Meadow
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Golden Meadow post office opened in 1923, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Golden Meadow rank for history?
Golden Meadow is more historic than 42% 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.
What is on the National Register in Golden Meadow?
One place: the Golden Meadow High School (listed 1998).
How old are the homes in Golden Meadow?
21% of Golden Meadow’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2023
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