Atchafalaya
Ghost town · United States
- Abandoned
- unknown
- Founded
- —
- Population
- —
- Coordinates
- 30.346, -91.719
Why it was abandoned
📉 Economic decline
Detected automatically from the text: United States Geological Survey maps from 1935 show the town to be located on the west bank of the Atchafalaya River at the Southern Pacific Railroad crossing, which was built in 1908.
History
Atchafalaya is a ghost town that was located in St. Martin Parish, approximately 6 miles north of Butte La Rose, Louisiana, United States and just north of I-10 on the Atchafalaya River. The site of the town itself is located at coordinates 30°20'41.8"N 91°43'17.3"W, and is abandoned. United States Geological Survey maps from 1935 show the town to be located on the west bank of the Atchafalaya River at the Southern Pacific Railroad crossing, which was built in 1908. The West Bank location is confirmed by the US Post Office application dated January 21, 1915 and approved February 13, 1915. After the bridge was damaged due to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the railroad from Lafayette to Baton Rouge was abandoned a few years later. With no transportation in and out, the town population began to dwindle, with the last resident leaving in 1959.