Historic Lafayette

LAFAYETTE PARISH:
AN INTRODUCTION
Lafayette Parish today is defined as many things: the Hub City, the capital of Cajun Country, the
heart of Acadiana. But before it took on these definitions, even before it was defined as a parish, the
geography and the environment of the area shaped the place we now call Lafayette.
People and cultures come and go, but the land and its layout change only slowly, sometimes
over centuries but usually over millennia. And the soil, the water, and the vegetation of an area
provide clues to understanding that place’s history, its inhabitants, and its development.
Lafayette Parish lies roughly thirty-five miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in southcentral
Louisiana. Among the smallest of Louisiana’s parishes, it is made up of just less
than 300 square miles, and lies about 50 miles to the west of the Mississippi River and 100
miles to the east of the Texas state line. Lafayette Parish is bordered on the north by St. Landry
Parish, on the west by Acadia Parish, on the east by St. Martin Parish, and on the south by Iberia
and Vermilion Parishes. It stands on higher ground than the land to its east thanks to a rise in
elevation known as the alluvial
wall, and its major waterway is the
Vermilion River, which flows into
the parish from the north and exits
towards Vermilion Bay in the
south. In addition to the river, the
parish’s land is cut through by a
number of smaller streams, most
notably Bayou St. Clair, Bayou
Tortue, Coulee Mine, and Coulee
Ile Des Cannes.
Lafayette Parish’s climate is
classified as semi-tropical, and
its summers are long and humid.
Falls and springs tend to be
cooler and drier, but they are
short. Winters are mild and, to
those used to more northerly
climes, hard to distinguish from
fall and spring.
This book provides a brief
history of Lafayette Parish.
Because of space limitations, much
of the narrative focuses on the city
of Lafayette itself. This is not
intended to ignore the importance
of towns such as Broussard,
Carencro, Milton, Scott, or
Youngsville. Those towns have
their own important stories to be
told, but they could not be
covered here.
4 ✦ HISTORIC LAFAYETTE