Tag: Ponchatoula
Ponchatoula is a city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,180 at the 2000 census. Ponchatoula calls itself the “Strawberry Capital of the World”. It is part of the Hammond Micropolitan Statistical Area. The current mayor is Bob Zabbia.
Ponchatoula was established as a logging camp in 1820, and incorporated as a town on February 12, 1861. William Akers was the city’s first mayor, and is credited with founding the town, establishing it on land he purchased from the federal government in 1832. At the turn of the 20th century Ponchatoula changed its main export from lumber to commercial farming. Nearly every family farmed in some form. The main produce was the strawberry of which the town grew so much it earned the nickname “The Strawberry Capital” or “Strawberry Capital of The World”. The families that were major farmers during this era that lasted for eighty years have their last names engraved on a large plaque in front of the city hall.During the 1980s…
