The Florenville Post Office was applied for in 1888, with the proposed location being pinpointed in an application to the U.S. Postmaster General. Here is some information from that application.
This article is a follow up post to a previous blog that detailed a train trip from New Orleans to Abita Springs, through Slidell, Pearl River, and Florenville. Link to previous blog article.
Application for a Post Office at Florenville, LA
Dated: May 18, 1888
The application required that the information being submitted be verified by the postmaster of a nearby established post office.
The name of the person making the application was J. Poitevent, with the Postmaster of Pearl River forwarding the application document to Poitevent. The Pearl River area post office was named Hallo at that time, and Emily J. Welsh was identified as the postmaster of that facility.
The Florenville post office was to be located in the northeast quarter of Section 30, Township Seven South of Range 14 East. It was to be along the existing mail route between New Orleans and Covington "on which the mail is now carried seven times a week."
The contractor of the post office was identified as the East Louisiana Rail Road Company, and it was said to be located inside the railroad station building, thus the railroad station was the location of the proposed post office.
The new Florenville Post Office was located about five miles west of Hallo. It was also fifteen miles east of the next post office on the route, that being Abita Springs. The application even mentions the nearest river (Pearl River), and the nearest creek (Gum Creek).
The application also noted that the proposed Florenville station was about ten miles to the nearest "flag station," that being called "Mandeville Junction," the location of a spur line that left the main track that ran between Florenville and Abita Springs, and angled southwestwardly to go down to Mandeville. A flag station was a station at which trains stopped only if signaled to do so.
The main track followed the path of today's La. Hwy. 36, and the Mandeville Junction spur followed the path of today's La. Hwy. 1088.
At the time of the post office application there were 200 people living in Florenville, and John A. Orr was suggested as the Postmaster for the proposed Florenville post office.
Abita Springs began growing by leaps and bounds when the first train of the East Louisiana Railroad, built by Poitevent and Favre, arrived on June 26, 1887.The train track was extended to Covington the following year. Overnight excursions from Covington to Abita became popular with the extension of the railroad to Covington.
