1909 Plaquemine Lock in Plaquemine, LA

(Satellite)

This lock has been replaced by the Port Allen Lock. And the gate that used to open to the Mississippi River has been replaced by a levee.

Street View

Vaslis D., Aug 2020

LouisianaTravel
"Bayou Plaquemine was a natural choice for constructing a series of shipping locks in 1909, when business was booming on the Mississippi River and boats needed to get into and out of the nation’s interior. Plaquemine Lock was an unrivaled engineering marvel, capable of raising ships 51 feet — a world record at the time. [Some other sources qualify it as the highest freshwater lift.]
"During and after World War II, traffic became too heavy for Plaquemine Lock and a new dam at Port Allen was constructed, directly across the Mississippi from Louisiana State University. The old site was shuttered, but its memory lives on at Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site."

plaquemine
"Congress authorized the construction of a lock here in the late 1800s. Construction began in 1895 and was completed in 1909. In 1925, Bayou Plaquemine became the northern terminus of the Intracoastal Canal system. Increased river traffic during and after World War II put a severe strain on the lock's capacity. In 1961, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge opened in Port Allen and the Plaquemine Lock was closed after 52 years of service.
"It was designed by Col. George W. Goethals, who was later the chief engineer of the design and construction of the Panama Canal."

lastateparks
"In 1972 the Plaquemine Lock structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation for significant historic sites. In addition to the lock, the area includes the Gary James Hebert Memorial Lockhouse, which serves as a museum and visitors center. Hebert worked to prevent the destruction of the lock by the Corps of Engineers and campaigned to have the area preserved as a historic site. "

64parishes
"When construction on the Plaquemine lock began in 1895, the dynamite blasts were sufficiently powerful to cause structural damage to St. John the Evangelist Church.,,,The lock’s pump house has an exterior facing of white glazed brick, a material chosen for its ability to reflect light, as there were no lighthouses along the river. The lock house has large, round-arched windows and a cast-iron balcony; its prominent stepped gables are said to reflect the Dutch heritage of designer Colonel George Goethals (1858–1928) of the Army Corps of Engineers. Goethals later became the chief engineer for the Panama Canal and the first civil governor of the Canal Zone."