Foreclosure Homes in Denham Springs, LA

Denham Springs is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census placed the population at 10,215, up from 8,757 at the 2000 census. The city is the largest area of commercial and residential development in Livingston Parish. Denham Springs and Walker are the only parish municipalities classified as cities.

History

19th century

The area has been known as Amite Springs, Hill's Springs, and Denham Springs.

The original land claims of John Noblet and Alexander Hogue form what is now the older section of Denham Springs, including the first residential and business districts. In 1828, William Denham, a Wilkinson County, Mississippi, native, married Mercy Hogue, the daughter of Alexander Hogue; and three months later he purchased the 640 acres (2.6 km²) originally claimed by his father-in-law. Denham purchased the land and a slave for $1,350.

A popular belief, supported by previously published histories, is that William Denham discovered the mineral springs on his property and that a health resort quickly grew up there. This belief defies logic, however, considering the number of springs which may be found in this area even today, and the length of time that elapsed before Denham arrived. No doubt Hogue and other early residents of the area depended on the springs for drinking water.

It was in the 1850s that Amite Springs became synonymous with the area that is now Denham Springs.

On May 1, 1855, Denham sold the Hogue tract to Stamaty Covas of New Orleans for $3,050, and Denham eventually moved to Baton Rouge and to Texas. Apparently during the time Covas owned the Hogue-Denham tract, and before the Civil War, a health resort did flourish at Amite Springs—as the hamlet was known at the time. Several newspaper articles and advertisements survive from that period, which describe the hotel and the facilities which it offered.

An article in the Baton Rouge Daily Comet, on June 25, 1856, notes that a bridge of boats had been formed at Benton's Ferry over the Amite River to facilitate travel to Amite Springs.