Lutcher’s post office opened in 1891, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #69 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Lutcher was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Its Register listings are the Olive Jeanette, the Lutcher United Methodist Church and the Lutcher & Moore Cypress Lumber Co., Ltd., Headquarters Building. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Lutcher post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lutcher’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lutcher is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #69 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 Lutcher’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 Lutcher’s 10.0 sits above most of its state (67% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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 (±5.1 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 Lutcher’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Lutcher was established as a sawmill town, named after Henry J. Lutcher who was a sawmill operator and businessman. Lutcher is also where James Mather and his family established a sugar plantation, and where Mather died in 1821. The Bank of Lutcher was organized by George H. Jones, M. D., son of Dr. John Welch Jones.
Starting in the late 1800s, Christmas bonfires are built along the Mississippi River levee near Lutcher. This tradition has often occurred on Christmas Eve and it says that the bonfires are made to light a path for Papa Noel.
On August 29, 2005, Lutcher sustained damage from Hurricane Katrina. On the same day sixteen years later, the town sustained significant damage from Hurricane Ida.
The Lutcher post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lutcher rank for history?
Lutcher is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #69 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 Lutcher?
Three places: the Olive Jeanette (listed 1991), the Lutcher United Methodist Church (1992) and the Lutcher & Moore Cypress Lumber Co., Ltd., Headquarters Building (1994).
How old are the homes in Lutcher?
6% of Lutcher’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (15), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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