Village of Folsom, LA

The virgin forests surrounding Folsom originally initiated interest in
the timber industry in the early 20 th century. In 1902, the Greenlaw
Lumber Company, Ltd. was established in Covington and operated
as a mill, manufacturer, and distributer of lumber, with business
connections to operating mercantile and shipping businesses.
Other local lumber mills, turpentine, and tar companies included
Jones and Picket, Ltd. (est. 1903), Frederick and Joseph Salmen’s
lumber company, Holliday and Ray, Covington Naval Stores
Company, the Frederick and Singletary Company, and Great
Southern Lumber.
In the early 1900s, many of the local residents were subsistence
farmers, growing what they needed to clothe and feed themselves,
including crops such as cotton, corn, cane, strawberries, grapes,
and tomatoes. Local families helped each other in their fields
picking cotton and strawberries and cane was processed into syrup.
Turpentine, made from the sap of the pine trees that were so
abundant in the area, also created the need for local turpentine
mills to be developed, with this industry dying down in the 1930s.
In the 1940s, the pine tree limbs left by lumber companies were
gathered and used to make tar in the local tar kilns.
A short, but important industry in the history of Folsom was the
tung oil industry, a key ingredient in lacquer, paints, and varnishes.
This industry came to Folsom via the US government in
anticipation of WWII, because the oil was used in the paints used on
naval ships. In the local climate, the nuts thrived and tung oil
became a short, but major business between 1945 and 1965. Tung
farms in Folsom spurred the development of processing plants in
nearby towns, including Bogalusa and Franklinton. Although
relatively short lived, this industry was important enough for
Folsom’s economy that it inspired a Tung Oil Festival and Beatrice
“Sally” Core was the first Tung Oil Queen. Winter freezes from
1955 to 1959, lower cost imports from Argentina, and the
development of acrylics delivered a blow to this economy in
Folsom. One of the largest tung oil land holders, Louis Chennel of
Normandy Farms, converted his 1,000 acres to housing
development, foreshadowing the influx of retirees to the area.
Some sought work in other nearby towns and in the City of New
Orleans. Domestic work and sewing jobs were often held by
women to supplement the family income. Land cleared for lumber
around Folsom provided grazing land for cattle and sheep.
Encore Azaleas x
Village of Folsom, LA
Comprehensive Master Plan
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