Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #107 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Francois Cousin House, the Lacombe School and the Williams Cemetery. Most of Lacombe was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1990.
The Lacombe post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Bayou Lacomb (1875) and Oaklawn (1913), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lacombe is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #107 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Lacombe’s 4.8 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lacombe’s history is told.
Lacombe’s post office has been open since 1910. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lacombe yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lacombe is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,679 at the 2010 census, and 8,657 in 2020.
Its first post office opened in 1910. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 8,679 in 2010, 8,657 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - St. Tammany Parish - ED 52-1 - E…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCEMETERY OFF FISH HATCHERY ROAD2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lacombe. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lacombe.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lacombe’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 6,523 and 8,679 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lacombe’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lacombe itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Lacombe post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lacombe is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #107 of 161 in Louisiana. 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.
Three places: the Francois Cousin House (listed 2002), the Lacombe School (1990) and the Williams Cemetery (2018).
3% of Lacombe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1997.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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