Natchitoches’ historic district, a National Historic Landmark, takes in 405 buildings
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #3 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Natchitoches was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 9 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Natchitoches Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and four historic districts with 428 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1820.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1806.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Natchitoches’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Natchitoches is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #3 of 161 in Louisiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Natchitoches’ 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 Natchitoches’ 248 sits above most of its state (95% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 436 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.7 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1714.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Natchitoches’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
Natchitoches was established in 1714 by Canadien explorer Louis Juchereau de St. Denis. It is the oldest permanent European settlement within the borders of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Natchitoches was founded as a French outpost on the Red River for trade with Spanish-controlled Mexico; French traders settled there as early as 1699. The post was established near a village of Natchitoches Indians, after whom the city was named. Early settlers were French Catholic immigrants and creoles (originally meaning those ethnic French born in the colony). French creoles acquired lands that were developed in the antebellum years as cotton-producing Magnolia Plantation and Oakland Plantation. Each has been preserved and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Natchitoches. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1937Campti SE sheet · 1:31,680
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Natchitoches.
Every building
Natchitoches, building by building, 1892–1923
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 year, then a sheet.
1892Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Retake this viewThe war in Louisiana - view of Natchitoches The war in Tennessee - rebel massacre of the Union troops after the surrend…, 1864
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Natchitoches’ page.
Natchitoches’s post office has been open since 1806.
Hamlets and corners on the map
East Natchitoches
Gone or out of use
Fort ClaibornemilitaryFort Saint Jean BaptistemilitaryFort Saint JohnmilitaryNatchitoches Preschool CenterschoolSaint Marys AcademyschoolSaint Matthew Churchchurch
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Natchitoches
AmericanCatholicFern Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Natchitoches’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1714, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Natchitoches’ post office opened in 1806, and the census of 1820 counted 986 people here.
How does Natchitoches rank for history?
Natchitoches is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #3 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 Natchitoches?
9 listings: 5 buildings and 4 historic districts with 428 contributing buildings. 436 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Natchitoches?
10% of Natchitoches’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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), 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.
★ Landmark
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