The Port Allen post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1916. Two smaller post offices, West Baton Rouge (1836) and Allain (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 920 in 19202020 census: 4,939148 years
How historic is Port Allen?
B
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Port Allen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1916.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Port Allen’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Allen is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #35 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Port Allen’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 Port Allen’s 20.2 sits above most of its state (75% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1916.
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 Port Allen’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The village of La Ville de Saint-Michel or San Miguel (1790–1817) had existed in a nearby location to what is now the city of Port Allen. Around the 1850s, a new community had started around the same location and went by the name Town of West Baton Rouge.
The city of Port Allen was founded in 1878. The name Port Allen is in honor of Henry Watkins Allen, a member of the American Confederate States Army and the 17th Governor of Louisiana. Allen was instrumental in the early years of the village, prior to the founding of the city, he had owned a slave-worked sugar plantation in town he had started in 1855, the Allendale Plantation, and he created his own railroad that ran through the village.
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.
The Port Allen post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1916.
How does Port Allen rank for history?
Port Allen is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #35 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 Port Allen?
7 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Port Allen High School (listed 1989, the first). 10 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Port Allen?
16% of Port Allen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
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