About Suma Crossing

Located in Livingston Parish, just miles from Baton Rouge and Hammond, Suma Crossing will be one of the area’s most beautiful and functional mixed-use developments. Featuring New Orleans-style architecture with a contemporary flair, the development will be based on the traditional neighborhood plan combining the best of residential living, walkable streets, recreational areas and professional offices with retail shops, specialty stores, dining and entertainment. Suma Crossing will also include an elementary and middle school, as well as the North Oaks-Livingston Parish Medical Complex, which will provide area residents with a wide range of healthcare services only minutes from where they live and play.

HISTORY

John Robert McLin Jr., related the history of the area in a 1987 story featured in the Denham Springs-Livingston Parish News. The following history is based on that article.

The Livingston Parish sawmill flag stop was first given the name Stafford by the Baton Rouge, Hammond & Eastern Railroad Company. The company established a station there when the line was completed in 1908. As was the railroad custom at the time, the flag stop was called “Stafford,” named after one of the area’s pioneering families. On February 11, 1911, the Satsuma Post Office was established with Rae E. Penniman as its first postmaster. It was discontinued on Oct. 31, 1938. Unknowingly, a Stafford Post Office already existed in Catahoula Parish, and therefore the Livingston Parish facility could not use the same name. Local residents changed the name to Satsuma because of a large orchard of Satsuma orange trees adjacent to the railroad. A railroad station was never completed, but it was called Stafford Spur and was a loading stop for logging.

The McLin family has a long history in Livingston Parish having immigrated from Ireland and eventually homesteaded prior to the Civil War in what is now Satsuma. Principals of both architectural firms for this development are related to the McLin family, which still resides at Suma Crossing today. In recent history, the McLin’s have produced two professional baseball players and the Suma Crossing Community Ball Park will be  managed and operated by Ronnie McLin.

ABOUT LIVINGSTON PARISH

Due to its unique French and Spanish heritage, Louisiana is subdivided into 64 “parishes,” or what the other 48 states call “counties.” (Alaska has “boroughs” and “census areas.”) Livingston Parish President, Mr. Mike Grimmer, the council, and school board are all dedicated to supporting a high quality of life for parish citizens. Their combined effort is reflected in the manner in which the parish has kept pace in providing infrastructure needs and education for one of the state’s fastest growing areas, or what experts have termed the “Supergrowth I-10 / I-12 Corridor.” Read more about this region’s growth in Baton Rouge’s daily newspaper The Advocate from April 29, 2007.

>> The Advocate’s Report on 10/12 Corridor Growth (PDF Download)