The population was 12, at the census. In the census the city reported a population of 10, It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington Parish and is also part of the larger New Orleans—Metairie—Hammond combined statistical area.
The name of the city derives from the Choctaw language term bogue lusa , which translates into English as "dark water [ 4 ] or "smoky water". Incorporated in , Bogalusa is one of the youngest towns in Louisiana. In the early s, the brothers bought hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin Longleaf pine forests in southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi for the timber and further their strategy to build railroad spurs to bring the wood to market.
In , they chartered the Great Southern Lumber Company —38 and built the first sawmill in what became Bogalusa, a company town built to support the mill. The sawmill was the largest in the world at the time. The city, designed by architect Rathbone DeBuys [ 10 ] of New Orleans and built from the ground up in less than a year, had several hotels, schools, a hospital, a YMCA and YWCA , churches of all faiths, and houses for the mill workers.
The town was laid out with the "Mill Town" on the south side and "Commercial Town" on the north side, altogether there were four quadrants with racially segregated neighborhoods defined by the railroad running north—south and Bogue Lusa Creek running east—west. It was called the "Magic City" in praise of its rapid construction. After Bogalusa was incorporated as a city on July 4, , Sullivan was elected as mayor by white voters blacks had been disenfranchised , and repeatedly re-elected, serving until his death on June 26, The Great Southern Lumber Company's sprawling sawmill produced up to a million board feet m 3 of lumber each day.
With the virgin pine forest cleared, the sawmill closed in during the Great Depression. An attempt to keep the sawmill open with California redwood proved too costly, and the mill was closed. In Bogalusa Paper Company merged with Gaylord Container Corporation; a chemical plant also run by Gaylord was built next to the mill. Crown-Zellerbach acquired Gaylord's operations in The paper mill and chemical operations continued to anchor the city's economy. At its peak in , the city had more than 21, residents.
