Ruddock, Louisiana

Ruddock, Louisiana
Ghost town
Ruddock, Louisiana
Coordinates: 30°12′16″N 90°25′30″W / 30.20444°N 90.42500°W / 30.20444; -90.42500Coordinates: 30°12′16″N 90°25′30″W / 30.20444°N 90.42500°W / 30.20444; -90.42500
Country United States
State Louisiana
Parish St. John the Baptist
Elevation 3 ft (0.9 m)
GNIS feature ID 1628080[1]

Ruddock is a ghost town in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, United States. Ruddock was located on an isthmus between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain, 10 miles (16 km) north-northeast of LaPlace.

Although the town was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915, it is still signed as an exit on Interstate 55 and marked on Louisiana state highway maps, as of 2011.[2]

History

In 1892, William Burton and C. H. Ruddock founded the Ruddock Cypress Company. They constructed a sawmill and a town to serve their business; the town became Ruddock. In 1902, the sawmill burned down and was later rebuilt. By 1910, the town had a population of 700.

In September 1915, the 1915 New Orleans Hurricane hit Ruddock, destroying the town and killing 58 residents of Ruddock and the nearby town of Frenier. Ruddock has since become overgrown by vegetation, and all that remains of the settlement is rotted wood from the buildings.[3]

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ruddock, Louisiana
  2. 2010 Official Highway Map of Louisiana (PDF) (Map). Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  3. Hastings, Robert W. (2009). The Lakes of Pontchartrain: Their History and Environments. University Press of Mississippi. p. 319.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.