Ponchatoula, Louisiana Ponchatoula, Louisiana Ponchatoula amid the 2007 Strawberry Festival Location of Ponchatoula in Louisiana Location of Louisiana in the United States Website: City of Ponchatoula, Louisiana Ponchatoula is a small town/city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Ponchatoula is known as the "Strawberry Capital of the World".
Ponchatoula was originally established as a quarrying camp in 1820, incorporating as a town on February 12, 1861.
Ponchatoula is a name signifying "falling hair" or "hanging hair" or "flowing hair" from the Choctaw Pashi "hair" and itula or itola "to fall" or "to hang" or "flowing." "Ponche" is an Indian word meaning location, object, or person. The name is eponymous with the Ponchatoula Creek, which flows from points north of the town/city into the Natalbany River southwest of town.
Ponchatoula was pillaged in 1863 by the Union Army amid the American Civil War.
Winters describes the fate of Ponchatoula: "Colonel Clark was disappointed to find no cotton in Ponchatoula, but he consoled himself by gathering all of the mules and wagons in the vicinity, loading them with valuable turpentine and resin and with the plunder of the village, and sending them...to be loaded aboard waiting schooners.
Ponchatoula is positioned at 30 26 21 N 90 26 33 W (30.439162, -90.442507) and has an altitude of 26 feet (7.9 m). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 4.2 square miles (11 km2), all land.
Ponchatoula is positioned along Interstate 55 and Louisiana Highway 22, equidistant from New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
In the early 1900s, Ponchatoula was one of only two ways to get to New Orleans by land, giving it the moniker "Gateway to New Orleans." In the city, the populace was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town/city was $22,244, and the median income for a family was $29,583.
Ponchatoula High School (near Ponchatoula) Ponchatoula Junior High School Martha Vineyard Elementary School (near Ponchatoula) Ponchatoula hosts Louisiana's Strawberry Festival each April and an Oktoberfest each autumn.
Ponchatoula is small, but it has a number of attractions including a sign on the outskirts of town with how many miles it lies from South Dakota's Wall Drug store.
The Chamber of Commerce office is positioned on Highway 22 at the barns tracks and has knowledge about these and other sights in Ponchatoula and the encircling area.
Ponchatoula High School Ponchatoula Creek USS Ponchatoula (AOG-38) USNS Ponchatoula (T-AO-148) Ponchatoula City website.
Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, p.
City of Ponchatoula The Ponchatoula Times Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival Municipalities and communities of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States
Categories:
Cities in Louisiana - Louisiana African American Heritage Trail - Populated places established in 1820 - 1820 establishments in the United States - Cities in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
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