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History · Provencal

Provencal’s post office opened in 1882

Most of Provencal was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Provencal began

When was Provencal founded?

1882

The Provencal post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Warnock (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 528144 years
Founding year: the first Provencal post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Provencal’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 Provencal are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Provencal’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Provencal’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 so far

Provencal, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Provencal yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Provencal is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Provencal had a population of 528. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 611 to 528 (-14%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Provencal, 1881 to 1882

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Warnock post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Warnock post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Provencal post office opens
By decade

Provencal, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Provencal2004LAMap-doton-Provencal
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Provencal’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Warnock, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Warnock
1881–1882
Provencal
1882–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Provencal’s history

What year was Provencal founded?

The Provencal post office opened in 1882, 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 →
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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), 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.