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History · Pollock

Pollock’s post office opened in 1893, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1900.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Pollock began

When was Pollock founded?

1893

The Pollock post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Oction (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 637 in 19002020 census: 394133 years
Founding year: the first Pollock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pollock’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Pollock are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pollock’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pollock’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Pollock came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pollock.

Read it all →

The town proper that sprang up in 1892 around a sawmill was named in honor of the manager of the Big Creek Sawmill and Lumber Company, Captain James W. Pollock.

Pollock was for many years a sundown town, a community that did not allow black people to be there after sundown. Historian Herbert Aptheker reported a sign "Niggers stay out of Pollock" at the town's boundary during World War II when he commanded a group of black soldiers nearby. The town's official history notes "the few individuals of African descent" living in the Pollock area left soon after the Colfax massacre. The Louisiana Almanac reported that as late as 1990, Pollock still had no black residents.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pollock, 1885 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Oction post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Oction post office closes
  4. 1893Post officeThe Pollock post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Pollock, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Pollock2004LAMap-doton-Pollock
On the map

Pollock on the map, 1936 to 2003

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

Pollock on the 1936 USGS mapPollock on the 1941 USGS mapPollock on the 1958 USGS mapPollock on the 1985 USGS mapPollock on the 1999 USGS mapPollock on the 2003 USGS map1936Pollock 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 Pollock.

People over time

Pollock, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 675

Between 317 and 675 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Pollock

Nobody well known was born in Pollock itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Huey LongAmerican politician, Governor of Louisiana, and… · b. 1893
Little WalterAmerican blues harmonica player · b. 1930
Rashard LewisAmerican basketball player · b. 1979
Faith FordAmerican actress · b. 1964
Muse WatsonAmerican actor · b. 1948
Justin GastonAmerican actor, model, and singer · b. 1988
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Pollock’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Oction, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Oction
1885–1893
Pollock
1893–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Pollock Army Air FieldmilitaryPollock High Schoolschool

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

Questions about Pollock’s history

What year was Pollock founded?

The Pollock post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, 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.