Freeport Sulphur Company

Port Sulphur, LA

Jobsite

Freeport Sulphur Company (Freeport) established their Port Sulphur Terminal in an area of Louisiana later named Port Sulphur in the early 1930s in order to support their nearby Frasch process sulphur mine at Lake Grande Ecaille.  In operation from 1933 until 1978, the terminal was responsible for purification, stockpiling, and transportation of sulphur obtained from Freeport’s Grande Ecaille mine located 10 miles west of the terminal.

Address or general location

28310 Hwy 23

Port Sulphur LA 70083

Detail

Port Sulphur, LA, owes its name and early establishment to the 1930s construction of Freeport’s Port Sulphur Terminal.  The property on which the terminal was located covered approximately 785 acres, included twenty-four major structures, and had previously been part of the Bellevue Plantation.  As early settlers have indicated, the surrounding town of Port Sulphur was designed and constructed by the company to support the Freeport employees.  The purpose of the Port Sulphur Terminal was to purify, stockpile and transport sulphur extracted from the Grande Ecaille mine.

In 1971, Freeport Sulphur Company changed its name to Freeport Minerals Company.  In 1981, Freeport Minerals merged with McMoRan Exploration and became Freeport McMoRan.  The Port Sulphur Terminal was in operation from 1933 until 1978 when the facility was closed.  The property was eventually sold and, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of what was left of the facility remaining on the property.