||History Department Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities
Bogalusa has always been defined by its foremost industry: first
lumber and then paper. Located in the heart of the Pinelands
region of Southeastern Louisiana, Bogalusa was founded in 1906
as the site of a massive sawmill. The Great Southern Lumber
Company, owned by the Goodyear family of Buffalo, New York,
incorporated the town and opened the sawmill in 1908. Within
several months, the population of this settlement among emerald
swamps and endless forests had grown to 8,000. Jews and non-Jews
alike relocated to Bogalusa in order to fill thousands of
available jobs at the sawmill or to open businesses catering to
this rapidly expanding economy. By the mid-twentieth century,
over fifty Jewish families resided in Bogalusa. They operated
successful businesses, organized a congregation, and filled
integral roles in the growth of the city’s booming lumber
industry. Jewish residents also played a major part in the
city's civic life, joining fraternal