Merryville, LA

Merryville sits in Beauregard Parish near the Texas line, with U.S. Route 190 running through town. DeRidder, the parish seat, is about 19 miles to the east, while Newton, Texas, lies about 18 miles west. The Sabine River, which marks the Louisiana–Texas border, is only a few miles beyond Merryville’s western edge. That location gives the town a clear crossroads character, tied to both the parish center and the neighboring state.

The community grew more quickly when rail service and sawmills turned the timber country into a busy early-twentieth-century boomtown. Merryville’s businesses also played a part in the movement that led to the creation of Beauregard Parish in 1912. Timber, schools, churches, and highway travel have each left a mark on the town’s shape. The 2020 census counted 967 residents, and Merryville belongs to the DeRidder micropolitan area, but the Sabine remains the feature that places it firmly in southwest Louisiana. The town’s history carries the feel of a borderland community: pine country behind it, a major river nearby, and a highway pointed in two directions.