Sugartown, Louisiana

How Sugartown is governed

Sugartown appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Beauregard Parish and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Sugartown does have local officials.

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

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Population over time

From 54 in 2010 to 33 in 2020 (−38.9%).

History

Although some individual families had come into the lower Calcasieu region earlier, the first permanent settlement in Southwest Louisiana at or around Sugartown occurred before 1818 when the area was part of the Neutral Strip. It was home to the first cotton gin west of the Calcasieu River (which operated more than 40 years), the first local school, the earliest cemetery, and the earliest church in the area. At the turn of the 20th century, Sugartown consisted of a Masonic Lodge, school, churches, racetrack, saloons, boarding houses, stores, supply houses and a doctor's office. Although never legally incorporated, Sugartown was the center of organized community life, the recognized trade, business and economic center of the area until, due to the growth of the timber industry and the location of the railroad, DeRidder supplanted it in the early 20th century.

Township

The Sugartown township was first surveyed in 1807, after the Louisiana Purchase. The village was first a way-station and overnight camping stop for travellers because Sugar Creek is easy to ford at this point.

Sugartown eventually became the major stopping point on the well-travelled and direct route from Lake Charles to Alexandria. Large cattle drives were made along this route from the holding point near what is now the Beauregard Regional Airport to the rail shipping point at Lecompte.

First school

The Sugartown Male and Female Academy was established in 1870. It is generally recognized that this school marked the beginning of the educational system of Southwest Louisiana. W. H. Baldwin, a graduate of Columbia University, was its first professor. Pupils came to him from approximately ten parishes in Louisiana and from several counties in East Texas. Graduates of the academy became leaders in medicine, ministry, education, government and business. Their influence is still felt today in many fields of public service.

Community name

There are two stories as to how Sugartown got its name. The first is that a wagon overturned while crossing the creek, spilling its expensive and delicious cargo into the creek, thus giving birth to both the name of the creek and the town. The second story is that an early settler allowed an unwatched pot of sugar cane juice to cook too long, turning the boiling syrup into sugar.

Mail

From about 1820 to 1840, mail had to be picked up at Belgrade, Texas, at the Sabine River boat landing below Merryville. In 1841 a post office was established at Sugartown with weekly deliveries by horseback from Lake Charles via Petersburg.

Old cemetery

The earliest settlers are buried in the "Old Campground Cemetery", one of the oldest cemeteries in the area. It is situated near the site of an ancient ford crossing of Sugar Creek and a way station where the pioneers of the early 19th century camped and rested before resuming their journeys to the West.

End of the Queen City

The population of Sugartown began to dwindle and businesses moved away when the railroads were laid to serve the busy sawmill towns of Bon Ami, Ludington, Fullerton and DeRidder. Had any of these mills or rail lines been built at Sugartown, it probably would have retained its prominent role as the leader and "Queen City of the Frontier".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Louisiana

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• Mansura 1,320
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