Calcasieu Parish Formed

When the Louisiana Purchase was acquired in 1803, the area between the Sabine River and the Calcasieu River (or the “Arroyo Hondo” to the Spanish) was disputed territory.  The area was known as “No Man’s Land.”  Local officials on both sides agreed to leave the “Neutral Ground” temporarily outside of the jurisdiction of both countries.  The area’s neutrality persisted from 1806 to 1821.

A Hive of Scum and Villainy

Because of the area’s disputed ownership, it was a known hotbed of criminal activity.  Outlaws, pirates, and criminals flocked to the lawless region to escape American and Mexican authorities, and even after the dispute was settled, the Sabine River served as a highway for pirates and the like.

Populating a City

The post-Civil War Reconstruction Era was a time of growth in the area now known as Sulphur.  This growth found its roots in 1859, with the discovery of oil in West Calcasieu, and many attempts were made between 1860 and the 1870’s to extract it from the earth.  The early Sulfur Mining Companies also began their operations at this time, mostly unsuccessfully (until the Frasch Mining Process was developed in 1894).

Meanwhile, a man named Eli Perkins was operating a sawmill at Rose Bluff (the site of the existing Citgo Refinery).  His son, Dosite Samuel (D.S.) Perkins was born in 1866 at Rose Bluff.  In addition to being involved in the town’s early oil prospecting attempts, Eli Perkins also has the distinction of being the first store-owner, with the construction of his general store in the area of Sulphur in 1876.  The store was built to serve the workers in the oil and sulfur industry that were taking up residence near the sulfur dome northwest of modern-day Sulphur.

Another influential resident of “soon to be” Sulphur moved to the area in 1872.  John Thomas Henning began working at Eli Perkins’ sawmill, and eventually married Perkins’ daughter.  In 1885, he moved to Sulphur, building the first house in the new village.  John Thomas Henning operated a boarding house, a transfer company which moved sulfur from the mines to the railroad, and also served as the town’s postmaster for a while.

Another major development in the history of the city was the construction of the Louisiana Western Railroad in the 1870’s.  An aggressive marketing campaign in the Northeast provided a steady flow of immigrants to the newly-forming region.

With all this new growth in the city, several residents began the task of laying out the groundwork for a city.  In 1878, Thomas Kleinpeter drafted the plans for the town of “Sulphur City,” even though it wasn’t  incorporated until many years later.