Krotz Springs, LA

Krotz Springs is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Atchafalaya River. The 2020 census counted 904 residents. Krotz Springs is part of the Opelousas–Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area. Around the turn of the 20th century, an Ohio native, Charles William Krotz, bought 20,000 acres of woodland around the Atchafalaya Basin and set up a sawmill to trim the trees hauled out of the basin. Krotz Springs's local map joins its older history to the places and landscapes that still shape the town today, all within the wider Louisiana setting.

The local scoop is how Krotz Springs's history still shows up in the places people visit, work, learn, and meet. The tiny settlement that grew up around the mill was called Latania, after the bayou of the same name and the types of palm plants found in the area. On the eastern border of Krotz Springs is Pointe Coupee Parish over the Atchafalaya River via U.S. Highway 190 while Opelousas, the St. Landry Parish seat, is located 20 miles west of Krotz Springs. Baton Rouge is located 40 miles to the east.