Mossville, Louisiana facts for kids
Mossville is a small community in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is an unincorporated area, meaning it doesn't have its own city government. Most people living in Mossville are African American. It's located near the city of Lake Charles, between the towns of Sulphur and Westlake.
A large chemical company called Sasol has a big plant right next to Westlake. Sasol announced plans to make its plant even bigger. This expansion involves buying land and helping many Mossville residents move to new homes.
Mossville has been featured in documentary films. The 2002 film Blue Vinyl explored how nearby factories might affect the health of people in the community. It showed groups like the Louisiana Bucket Brigade collecting air samples to test for pollution. The 2019 film Mossville, When Great Trees Fall also documented some of the last residents. This film was shown at festivals worldwide and on PBS.
History of Mossville
Mossville was founded by a man named Jack Moss. He was a former enslaved person. He started the community in 1790. This was more than 50 years before Calcasieu Parish was officially created.
Over time, Mossville grew to have more than 600 residents. However, it was never officially made into a town or city. The main roads in the area are Old Spanish Trail (also called East Burton Street) and Prater Road. The community stretches west towards the city limits of Sulphur and includes Evergreen Road.
The land was settled by formerly enslaved Africans. They gained ownership of the land through a process called "squatters rights." This meant that if someone agreed to improve the property and live there for a certain number of years, they could become the owner. After the American Civil War, many individuals from nearby farms settled on this land. They began growing crops and raising cattle.
The area stayed mostly rural until the early 1900s. Then, the Locke-Moore Company built a sawmill. Lumber became the main industry. Later, sugar refining also became important.
Mossville grew the most in the 1940s and 1950s. This was when many petrochemical and industrial plants moved into the area. Today, these plants are still the main source of jobs for Mossville residents. The huge Sasol chemical plant project is changing the look of Mossville. The community now looks very different from how it did before the chemical plant project.
Mossville's Population
Mossville is an unincorporated community. This means it is not officially a city or a census designated place. So, its exact population is not known. However, it is part of a larger area used for the U.S. Census. This larger area had a population of 3,420 people in 2020. Of these, 344 were African American.
About Sasol
Sasol is a large chemical company. It bought Condea Vista in the year 2000. Sasol has grown into a big international company that makes many different chemical products. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. It is mainly run by people from Africa.
Sasol's big project in the area is called the Lake Charles Chemical Projects. This project includes a large ethane cracker complex. It covers more than 3 square miles and cost an estimated $8.1 billion.
Many streets north of Old Spanish Trail in Mossville have become part of Sasol's property. This happened because Sasol bought the land through a voluntary purchase program. These streets are now closed to the public. They include VCM Plant road, Center street, 1st through 8th avenue, Michigan avenue, Lincoln avenue, Laurel avenue, and Rigmaiden avenue. Evergreen street, near the Sulphur city limits, is also included in these closures.
In August 2013, Sasol opened an office on Old Spanish Trail. This office helped with the Voluntary Property Purchase Program. The program covers 883 land lots in Mossville. It also includes the Brentwood subdivision, which is mostly white and south of Old Spanish Trail.
Homeowners who live in their houses were offered at least $100,000. They also received 60% of their property's appraised value. Rental property owners were offered $75,000. Owners of undeveloped land received $5,000. All property owners also got $500 to help with professional advice. Those who signed up early received an extra $1,000. Some residents sought help to make sure the program was fair for everyone. About 62 Mossville residents and 2 Brentwood residents chose not to leave. The program also had to consider "heirship rights." This means that many different family members might have a claim to the same property. There could be as many as 80 heirs for some properties.
Sasol also donated $275,000 to the Imperial Calcasieu Museum. This money funded the Mossville History Project. The goal of this project is to "capture, record, preserve and make available Mossville’s written and oral history."
