Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

          Search For HomesThe small city of Port Allen is the parish seat and governmental center of West Baton Rouge Parish. Port Allen is located between I-10 and US Highway 190 on the West bank of the Mississippi River.

 

          Port Allen is home to the Mississippi Riverfront Development, which offers a gorgeous view of the Mississippi River and Baton Rouge. It also includes some attractions such as: the West Baton Rouge Museum, the City of Port Allen Railroad Depot, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, and the Port Allen Lock.

 

          The Port of Greater Baton Rouge, located in Port Allen, is the leader of deepwater navigation on the Mississippi River, serving barges and ocean-going vessels with international import and export facilities for all types of cargo, from grain to paper productions, manufactured goods, and much more. The Port Allen Lock provides river barges and other vessel access to the Intracoastal Waterway, decreasing the distance to the Gulf of Mexico by approximately 120 miles. The Lock, a free-floating construction is the largest of its kind, as it serves as a man-made split in the levee.

 
          Port Allen obtained its present name in 1878. The first post office was established in the 1870s, and the settlement had to have a name. It had been designated as "The Port" after completion of the Baton Rouge, Grosse Tete, and Opelousas Railroad in the 1950s. The railroad on the Mississippi River became the port to which were shipped goods and produce from the Grosse Tete area. The town was labeled after Henry Watkins Allen, owner of Allendale Plantation in the north end of the Parish, and the Civil War Governor of Louisiana.
 

          This small town also allows people who still want the small country life and the big city job to do so. With just a small trip down I-10 into baton rouge, Port Allen has become the home to many work commuters over the last few years.

 

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