Sulphur is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 22,512 at the 2000 census. Sulphur is a suburb of Lake Charles, and is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sulphur is named for the sulfur mines, which were excavated in the area in the 1900s. In this area, the German immigrant Herman Frasch invented the "Frasch method" of mining sulfur, pumping hot steam into the ground, liquidizing the mineral, and pumping the liquid to the surface. This greatly facilitated sulfur mining. The elementary school on South Huntington Street in downtown... Sulphur is named after Dr. Frasch. The area was expanded with the addition of the Cities Service oil refinery. The areas of Maplewood and Hollywood were developed to house refinery workers. The Sulphur area is still mostly dependent on the oil refineries and petrochemical plants for employment. On March 27, 2010, Christopher Lee "Chris" Duncan , an insurance agent, became the first Republican elected mayor of Sulphur. In a turnout of 35 percent, Duncan unseated the incumbent Democrat, Ronald M.
more