Founding year: the first Lawtell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lawtell’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lawtell is among the newest of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lawtell’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 Lawtell’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (21% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D−. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 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 Lawtell’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 Lawtell yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lawtell is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lawtell had a population of 1,066. The name is a portmanteau of the names of its two founders: Lawler and Littell. State Representative Dustin Miller is a native of and a businessman in Lawtell.
Its first post office opened in 1911. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,198 to 1,066 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Lawtell, 1908 to 1939
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 Lawtell. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1939Opelousas 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 Lawtell.
Questions about Lawtell’s history
What year was Lawtell founded?
The Lawtell post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lawtell rank for history?
Lawtell is among the newest 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.
How old are the homes in Lawtell?
0.0% of Lawtell’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
