1963 Map of Franklin

About this map

The Bayou Teche defines the social and economic geography of St. Mary Parish in the early 1960s, serving as the historical spine for settlements like Baldwin and Franklin. The landscape is a complex intersection of traditional plantation agriculture, represented by Bodin Plantation and Lucy Plantation, and the industrial extraction of the Jeanerette Oil and Gas Field. Major transport corridors including the Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads parallel the bayou, facilitating the movement of sugar and oil. To the south, the terrain dissolves into the dense wetlands surrounding the Charenton Drainage and Navigation Canal and the Intracoastal Waterway, where a network of smaller streams like Choupique Bayou and Onion Bayou wind toward Mud Lake. Local community life is rooted in sites such as Willow Street High Sch and the Nazarene Ch.