Start, Louisiana

Start
Unincorporated community
Start Fire Department Station #2
Start Location within the state of Louisiana
Coordinates: 32°29′11″N 91°51′33″W / 32.48639°N 91.85917°WCoordinates: 32°29′11″N 91°51′33″W / 32.48639°N 91.85917°W
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Richland
Population (2007)
• Total	657
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	71279

Start welcome sign notes that Country singer Tim McGraw once resided there.

Start, Louisiana, water tower

Start Baptist Church, 802 Charleston Drive

Start is an unincorporated community in Richland Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. The community has 657 residents.

Geography

Start is located at 32°29′11″N 91°51′33″W / 32.48639°N 91.85917°W (32.48639, -91.85917).^[1] It is adjacent to the communities of Crew Lake to the west, Girard to the east, Oak Ridge to the north, and Alto and Mangham to the south.

Community

Start is a small unincorporated community and mainly consists of farmland. The town itself has several churches, the Start Mart, Start In-and-Out, homes, Whitten Barber Shop, Walters Woodworks, and the Start Fire Department.

Start Elementary School, which is operated by the Richland Parish School Board, is located in the community and serves students in grades kindergarten through sixth.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting created a documentary of Start in 2006.

History

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the community known as Start did not have a name. In 1908, Charles Titsch marked out a town plat and called it Charleston. J.M. Morgan (1866-1940) needed a name in order to operate a post office from his store. Morgantown was submitted to the United States Post Office, but the name was rejected. In 1918, Rachel Morgan, a daughter to J.M. Morgan was the new post master, and submitted the name Charleston. This name was also rejected. Rachel finally concluded that the name Start should be submitted, because they were making a new start. On July 26, 1918, the U.S. Postal Service accepted Start as the official name of the community.^[2]

Notable residents

• Tim McGraw

References

1. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
2. Whinham, Charlie. Lost Louisiana. What's In A Name? III. Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 2006.