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History · Slaughter

Slaughter’s post office opened in 1886, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Bank of Slaughter. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1900.

1886first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Slaughter began

When was Slaughter founded?

1886

The Slaughter post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Belzora (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 259 in 19002020 census: 1,035140 years
Founding year: the first Slaughter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Slaughter’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 Slaughter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Slaughter’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Slaughter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Slaughter.

Read it all →

The area was originally called Belzara, which was named after the post office in the area. The community was later called Burnsville, in honor of the land surveyor who cut the railroad right-of-way through the area. The town's name is from an Illinois Central Railroad Depot for the farm of the Slaughter family. The town was incorporated as "Slaughter" in 1889. The Gloster Southern Railroad served the town from 1987 to 2008. figures in the title of Michael Ondaatje's novel about jazz player Buddy Bolden entitled Coming Through Slaughter. Slaughter was designated a town in 2002.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Slaughter, 1884 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Belzora post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Belzora post office closes
  4. 1886Post officeThe Slaughter post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905BuiltBank of Slaughter is built
  7. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1942Born hereHenry Davis is born here
By decade

Slaughter, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Sunrise in Slaughter, Louisiana, waiting for the Bus2010Sunrise in Slaughter, Louisiana, waiting for the BusChickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 32010Chickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 3Chickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 22010Chickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 2Chickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 12010Chickens in Slaughter, Louisiana, Feb 2010 - 1LAMap-doton-Slaughter2004LAMap-doton-Slaughter
On the map

Slaughter on the map, 1939 to 1980

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

Slaughter on the 1939 USGS mapSlaughter on the 1954 USGS mapSlaughter on the 1963 USGS mapSlaughter on the 1980 USGS map1939Zachary 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 Slaughter.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Slaughter

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2005
Bank of Slaughter
Bank of Slaughter, built 1905
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Bank of SlaughterItalianate · Built 1905

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Slaughter, census by census

02004006008001,00019001920194019601980200020201,035

Grew from 259 people in 1900 to 1,035 in 2020, 3 times over.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Slaughter’s post office has been open since 1886. Another post office, Belzora, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Belzora
1884–1886
Slaughter
1886–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Slaughter’s history

What year was Slaughter founded?

The Slaughter post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Slaughter?

One place: the Bank of Slaughter (listed 2005).

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.