It’s a common assumption that towns began to spring up on south Louisiana prairies almost as soon as the last spike was driven to connect railroads linking New Orleans and Houston in 1880.
That line opened an important commercial route but wasn’t an overnight town builder. Even after the rails came through, most prairie communities were hidden away in places where water and firewood could be found.
W. W. Duson, who founded towns and developed hundreds of thousands of acres in southwest Louisiana, made the point in a speech in 1896 that the railroads were slow to begin supporting towns…