Most of Port Sulphur was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1950.
From Port Sulphur’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Port Sulphur began
When was Port Sulphur founded?
1934
The Port Sulphur post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Point Michael (1854), Homeplace (1871) and Happy Jack (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,255 in 19502020 census: 1,67792 years
How historic is Port Sulphur?
D−
Among the newest of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Port Sulphur post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Port Sulphur’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Sulphur 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 Port Sulphur’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 Sulphur’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 (±2.0 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 Port Sulphur’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Macedonia ChurchchurchOur Lady of Lourdes SchoolschoolPlaquemines Parish General HospitalhospitalPort Sulphur High SchoolschoolSaint Jude SchoolschoolSaint Pauline ChurchchurchSaint Pauline Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Port Sulphur
AncalBarthelemyFeetsJohnson FisherMengeSaint Patrick
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Port Sulphur on the map, 1892 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Port Sulphur. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Quarantine 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 Port Sulphur.
People over time
Port Sulphur, census by census
Peaked at 3,523 in 1990; 1,677 people lived here in 2020.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Port Sulphur’s Wikipedia page.
Port Sulphur was originally a typical company town, with its residents and civic life closely tied to the Freeport Sulphur Company. As the company divested itself of much of the town property and governance, it became more of a regular town with private individual land ownership. As the number of employees at the site dwindled, the Freeport Company became less important in everyday life and economic activity. At some point, most of the company-owned land not necessary for the sulphur operation was transferred to Plaquemines Parish or sold to private owners. The economic fortunes of the Freeport Sulphur Company declined during the 1980s and 1990s, resulting from the competitive forces of recovered Sulphur processed from sour oil & gas. In the early 2000s Freeport Sulphur shut down operations, as the price of sulphur dropped too low because large amounts of sulphur recovered during petrol…
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.
The Port Sulphur post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Port Sulphur rank for history?
Port Sulphur 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 Port Sulphur?
0.0% of Port Sulphur’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (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.
1935
1939
1943
1943