Port Allen, Louisiana

United States &gt; 'Louisiana &gt; 'West Baton Rouge Parish &gt; Marksville

Port Allen is a city in and the parish seat of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

History
The first recorded settlement at the site of present Port Allen, Louisiana was the town of St. Michel. The town was laid out in 1809 along the Mississippi River, but now lost to the river.

Port Allen acquired its present name in 1878. The first post office was established in the 1870s, and the settlement had to have a name. It had been designated as “The Port” after completion of the Baton Rouge, Grosse Tete, and Opelousas Railroad in the 1850s. The terminus of the railroad on the Mississippi River became the port to which were shipped goods and produce from the Gosse Tete area. The town was named after Henry Watkins Allen, owner of Allendale Plantation in the north end of the Parish, and the Civil War Governor of Louisiana.

Newspapers

 * The West Side Journal

Websites

 * City of Port Allen
 * Port of Greater Baton Rouge