The Maplewood community and Citgo Lake Charles Refinery celebrated Maplewood Elementary and Middle Schools’ 80th birthday this week with games, treats and fun.

Construction on the Citgo refinery began in 1942. The housing need for the incoming refinery workers and their families was dire, so a tight-knit community was developed to house them. Built on one-square mile near Sulphur and Lake Charles, Maplewood became home to the thousands of workers that would move to Southwest Louisiana.

To commemorate the anniversary, Maplewood elementary and middle school students got an indoor field day complete with classic games, hot dogs, cake and a goodie bag for each student — courtesy of Citgo.

Sterling Neblett, vice-president and general manager of Citgo Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex, said since Maplewood and the refinery are deeply interconnected, it means a lot to Citgo’s employees to give back to the school.

“They don’t have to celebrate this, but they choose to because it’s an achievement,” he said. “It says that both the school and our facility have endured. We’re still here and we’re going to stay here.”

Mayor of Sulphur Mike Danahay recalled his time as a Maplewood resident 60 years ago. Maplewood was one of the first planned communities in the nation, he said, and the collective mass migration to the Lake Area created a one-of-a-kind neighborhood.

“Families came from everywhere, all over the United States. They came here and they assimilated together,” he said. “I think that was part of the whole plan. They wanted people to interact with each other, and they had the facilities to do that.”

Maplewood was complete with housing, school, recreational center, movie theater, playground, pool and a shopping center with a grocery store.

“It was a great community to live in. We had everything here.”

In the 60s. Maplewood was vacated and the properties were sold individually (Danahay purchased one of these lots) because people began to move to newer neighborhoods, but the spirit of the community lives on.

“I didn’t go too far.”

A segment of Maplewood’s memory now lives on the school’s campus. The original trellis from the Maplewood shopping center is housed at the school.

Maplewood Elementary Principal Saberly O’Quain said the artifact is another symbol of the school’s partnership with Citgo, which refurbished the trellis for the school before the pandemic.

“There were pieces missing, broken,” she said. “Using what little pieces of coloring was still left on the original, our art club repainted it to try to match what it had been back then.”

The trellis — featuring an ornate design of vining grapes — is displayed outside near the school’s butterfly garden, which was reestablished this year.