KROTZ SPRINGS

Around the turn of the century Ohio native C W Krotz bought 20,000 acres of woodland in the Atchafalaya Basin and set up a sawmill to trim the trees hauled out of the basin. The tiny settlement that grew up around the mill was called Lantania, after the bayou of the same name.

Thinking he was sitting on an untapped pool of oil Krotz put down the first oil well in St. Landry Parish, but he struck water instead of oil. The artesian well became known as Krotz’s spring and was used to supply water for the developing sawmill town. Krotz even bottled the water and sold it throughout the country

In 1909, a post office was established in the town, but there was already a community called Lantania, so another name had to be found.
Of course, the obvious choice was Krotz Springs.