Torras is the name of a former town in the extreme northeastern corner of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana

Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana

Pointe Coupee Parish, pronounced "Pwent Koo-Pay" and , is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is New Roads. As of 2000, the population was 22,763....

. The town was located along either side of the Texas & Pacific Railroad at its juncture with Lower Old River

Old River (Louisiana)

Old River, or Raccourci Old River, is a long ox-bow lake located in northern Pointe Coupee Parish and western West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana, USA. It encompassess approximately ....

. The Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 is located just to the east and the juncture of the Red

Red River (Mississippi watershed)

The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...

 and Atchafalaya River

Atchafalaya River

The Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi River and Red River in south central Louisiana in the United States. It flows south, just west of the Mississippi River....

s just to the west.

Founded in 1902 and named for pioneer area planter Joseph Torras. Joseph Torras was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1820. He immigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 as a young man. Before settling in Pointe Coupee in 1845, he had lived in Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...

 and Van Buren, Arkansas

Van Buren, Arkansas

Van Buren is the second largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area and the county seat of Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. The city is located directly northeast of Fort Smith at the Interstate 40 - Interstate 540 junction...

. He and his brother purchased the plantation of General Bennett Barton Simmes and opened the firm of M & J Torras.

The town of Torras was expected to develop into an important shipping and rail center, due to its excellent location. Disaster struck, however, on May 1, 1912, when the levee in front of the town gave way during the great Mississippi River flood of that year. The community was virtually destroyed as the flood waters poured south through Pointe Coupee Parish as well as into West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Assumption Parishes. Some 17,000 residents of Pointe Coupee were forced from their homes and at least 28 persons drowned, principally in the Lettsworth

Lettsworth, Louisiana

Lettsworth is a small village located in the extreme northern tip of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. It lies on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River near its intersection with the Mississippi River and the Red River at the Old River Control Structure. As of 2005, the...

, Batchelor and Erwinwille communities to the south of Torras.

The community of Torras was moderately rebuilt and withstood the high water of the Great Flood of 1927

Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States.-Events:The flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By September, the Mississippi's tributaries in Kansas and Iowa were swollen to...

, when a levee break occurred nearby at the McCrea

McCrea, Louisiana

McCrea is a small, unincorporated community on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River in the northwestern portion of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana . it is located along Louisiana Highway 417, some distance north of East Krotz Springs, Louisiana. A post office opened here in 1902 but was...

community on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River. With the relocation of the railroad in later years, however, the community of Torras ceased to exist and there are no buildings left to mark its former location.