Aerial view of Port Sulphur, Louisiana on the Mississippi RiverPort Sulphur is a census-designated place (CDP) on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,115 at the 2000 census.
The name Port Sulphur derives from the Freeport Sulfur Company in the early 1900s, when it set up drilling, refinery and shipping operations. The site is valuable because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, its docking site along the Mississippi River and the surrounding natural resources.
History
Port Sulphur was an out-an-out company town. Today, the same buildings are present; although in the 1990s Freeport shut down operations, as the price of sulfur dropped too low, mainly to the by-product of sulfur obtained in petroleum production. With the closing of Freeport (McMoran) Sulfur, the town has been seeking another economic identity.
After Hurricane KatrinaThe town is 8 feet (2.4 m) above sea level and had not flooded during Hurricanes Betsy and Camille. Nevertheless, in Hurricane Katrina, the federal levees failed and around 22 feet (6.7 m) of water engulfed the town. Almost all single family homes in the town were destroyed, many of which were moved off their foundation as many as 100feet. In the months following Katrina, some residents moved back to Port Sulphur in trailers and modular homes provided by FEMA. But many residents relocated to other parts of Louisiana, the Southeast, and Texas.
