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CHistory
History · Laplace

Laplace’s post office opened in 1892, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #88 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Montegut Plantation House and the Woodland Plantation. Most of Laplace was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1950.

1892first post office
2on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Laplace’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Laplace began

When was Laplace founded?

1892

The Laplace post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Bonnet Ouarre (1825), Bonnet Carre (1828) and Eugenia (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 2,352 in 19502020 census: 28,841134 years

How historic is Laplace?

C

More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Laplace post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Laplace’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laplace is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #88 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Laplace’s overall grade.
Founding era1892, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.1% of homes (±0.9) · typical LA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register2 listings, 4 historic buildings, 1.4 per 10,000 residents · typical LA town 3.8 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 30%
NewerOlder
Louisiana towns of 2,500+ (161)Ahead of 46%

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 Laplace’s 1.4 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size. 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 Laplace’s past

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

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Laplace, and 7 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18927 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1992. Watch Laplace change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bonnet Ouarre
1825–1828
Bonnet Carre
1828–1900
Eugenia
1887–1892
La Place
1892–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belle TerreCarrollwoodColonial Mobile Home ParkGypsyMontegutRiverland HeightsWheel Estates Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Bonnet Carre Oil and Gas Fieldoilfield

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

Help out

Start Laplace’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Laplace’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 viewMontegut Plantation: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Laplace on the map, 1892 to 1992

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

Laplace on the 1892 USGS mapLaplace on the 1935 USGS mapLaplace on the 1952 USGS mapLaplace on the 1967 USGS mapLaplace on the 1972 USGS mapLaplace on the 1989 USGS mapLaplace on the 1992 USGS map1892Bonnet Carre 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 Laplace.

The story

How Laplace came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Laplace.

Read it all →

The Chitimacha lived in the region prior to the arrival of European colonists. The tribe's lands once encompassed the entire Atchafalaya Basin, westward to Lafayette, southward to the Gulf of Mexico and eastward to the New Orleans area. The Chitimacha tribe currently resides on a reservation in St. Mary Parish.

ChaptersPre-EuropeanEuropean colonization1811 Slave RevoltPost-Civil War developmentsWeather eventsSpellingAndouille

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Laplace, 1825 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825Post officeThe Bonnet Ouarre post office opens
  3. 1828Post officeThe Bonnet Ouarre post office closes
  4. 1828Post officeThe Bonnet Carre post office opens
  5. 1886Born hereKid Ory is born here
  6. 1887Born hereLawrence Duhé is born here
  7. 1887Post officeThe Eugenia post office opens
  8. 1892Post officeThe Eugenia post office closes
  9. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 20th century
  11. 1900Post officeThe Bonnet Carre post office closes
  12. 1974Born hereDamon Mason is born here
  13. 1979Born hereKerry Watkins is born here
By decade

Laplace, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Montegut PlantationDate?Montegut Plantation
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.

Montegut Plantation
Retake this viewMontegut Plantation

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Laplace

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1988
Montegut Plantation House
Montegut Plantation HouseWoodland Plantation
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Creole1
Montegut Plantation HouseCreole
Woodland PlantationBuilding

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

People over time

Laplace, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,0001960198020002020Peak: 29,872

Between 2,352 and 29,872 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Laplace

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

See all →
Kid OryAmerican jazz trombonist · b. 1886
K
Kerry WatkinsAmerican football player · b. 1979
L
Lawrence DuhéAmerican musician · b. 1887
D
Damon MasonPlayer of American football · b. 1974
Ryan PerrillouxAmerican football player · b. 1987
D
DeQuincy ScottAmerican football player · b. 1978
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Reserve3 historic placesC−Edgard4 historic placesB+MontzIts storyD−

Questions about Laplace’s history

What year was Laplace founded?

The Laplace post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Laplace rank for history?

Laplace is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #88 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.

What is on the National Register in Laplace?

Two places: the Montegut Plantation House (listed 1988) and the Woodland Plantation (2017).

How old are the homes in Laplace?

2% of Laplace’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1985.

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).

From the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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.