White Castle, the town, was carved out of the George Wailes Plantation "White Castle". The 1883 Charles H. Dickinson Survey of several parishes of Louisiana shows the"White Castle" Plantation property. Nearby is the plantation property of John H. Randolph called "Nottoway".
White Castle was established as a town at the beginning of the 1900s with the influx of people and business brought by the logging done in the Cyprus swamps in the area. When the Cyprus was depleted the main economic growth reverted back to the sugar cane industry that had been established during the 1800s. Individual plantation sugar mills gave way to larger mills servicing many plantations. By 1970 White Castle had three major sugar mills, Cora-Texas, Cedar Grove, and Catherine/Supples. Presently only one, Cora-Texas located just south of White Castle on LA 1, is still in service.
Plantations in the area are Nottoway, Belle Grove (now defunct), and Laurel Ridge, among many more. People living in the unincorporated areas of Samstown, Lone Star, Bell Grove, Dorseyville Old Dorseyville School, and as far away as Bayou Goula helped support White Castle businesses. At one time there were three car dealerships: Dufour Chevrolet, White Castle Motor company (Ford), and Dixie Sales and Service (Chrysler/Plymouth); three drug stores: Hebert's, Viallon's, and Bajon's; two clothing stores: Weill's and Shaheen's; a jewelry store: Eskine's Jewelry; and two lumber yards: Tassin's and Baudoin's. Sammy's, Dominic's, Tina's, Fortes and Landry's were used for grocery shopping. Big screen entertainment was provided by Castle Theater until 1959 when it was closed.
During the 1950s the Chemical industry entered the area congregating around the Mississippi river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. This entry of this industry brought economic growth that took White Castle to the 1980s. Companies establishing chemical plants in the area near White Castle were Dow Chemical (north of Plaquemine), Georgia Pacific (now Axiall), Hercules (north of White Castle), and Ciba-Geigy (on the east side of the Mississippi).
Population trends has remained between 1900 to 2200 residents for the last 40 years within the city limits of White Castle. This is probably due to the stable boundaries. The surrounding unincorporated areas have seen an increase.