St. Landry Parish, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Seal  Logo | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofLouisiana | |
 Louisiana's location within theU.S. | |
| Coordinates:30°36′N92°00′W / 30.6°N 92°W /30.6; -92 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Louisiana |
| Founded | 1807 |
| Named after | St. Landry Catholic Church |
| Seat | Opelousas |
| Largest city | Opelousas |
| Area | |
• Total | 939 sq mi (2,430 km2) |
| • Land | 924 sq mi (2,390 km2) |
| • Water | 15 sq mi (39 km2) 1.6% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 82,540 |
• Estimate (2024) | 80,869 |
| • Density | 89.3/sq mi (34.5/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional districts | 3rd,4th,5th |
| Website | stlandrypg |
St. Landry Parish (French:Paroisse de Saint-Landry) is aparish located in theU.S. state ofLouisiana. As of the2020 Census, the population was 82,540.[1] Theparish seat isOpelousas.[2] The parish was established in 1807.[3]
St. Landry Parish comprises the Opelousas, LAMicropolitan Statistical Area (μSA), which is also included in theLafayette-Opelousas-Morgan City, LACombined Statistical Area. It is at the heart ofCreole andCajun culture and heritage in Louisiana.
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The land that became St. Landry Parish was inhabited since at least 10,500 B.C., as deduced from excavations of three prehistoric dwelling sites. By the 15th century, theOpelousa Indians settled in the area situated betweenAtchafalaya River andSabine River (at the border of Texas-Louisiana). The Opelousa were war-like and preyed on neighbors to defend their own territory.
The first European recorded in the Opelousa territory was a French trader named Michel de Birotte. He came in 1690 and negotiated with the Opelousa nation.[citation needed] Nine years later, France namedLouisiana as a colony and defined the land occupied by the Opelousa as the Opelousas Territory. The area south of the Opelousas Territory between the Atchafalaya River, the Gulf of Mexico andBayou Nezpique, occupied by the Atakapas Indians (EasternAtakapa), was named Atakapas Territory.
In 1764,France established the OpelousasPost slightly north of the contemporary city of Opelousas (near present-dayWashington).[4] It was a major trading organization for the developing area. In addition, France established the Attakapas Post (near the present-daySt. Martinville) in the Attakapas Territory, in 1765. France gave land grants to soldiers and settlers to encourage development. Most settlers were French immigrants. Tradition says that Jean Joseph LeKintrek and Joseph Blainpain, who had formed a partnership to trade with the Opelousa Indians, came in the early 1740s. They brought three enslaved Africans, the first to live in the area.[5]
Some Indians sold land to the newcomers. When the Eastern Attakapas ChiefKinemo sold all the land betweenVermilion River andBayou Teche to FrenchmanGabriel Fuselier de la Claire in 1760, however, the angryOpelousa tribe exterminated the Attakapas (Eastern Atakapa).
France ceded Louisiana and its territories toSpain in 1762. Under Spanish rule, Opelousas Post became the center of government for SouthwestLouisiana. By 1769 about 100 families were living in Opelousas Post. Between 1780 and 1820, the first settlers were joined by others coming from the Attakapas Territory, from thePointe Coupée Territory, and east from the Atchafalaya River area. They were joined by immigrants from theFrench West Indies, who left after Haiti/St. Domingue became independent in a slave revolution. Most of the new settlers were French, Spaniards,French Creoles,Spanish Creoles,Africans andAfrican-Americans.
The group from Attakapas Post included manyAcadians. These were French who migrated fromNova Scotia in 1763, after their expulsion by the English in the aftermath of France's defeat in the Seven Years' War (known in North America as the French and Indian War). They were led byJean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie. D'Abbadie was Governor of the territory from 1763 to 1765. The French community builtSt. Landry Catholic Church by 1766, dedicated toSt. Landry (Landericus) of Paris, theBishop of Paris in the 7th century.[6][7]
On April 10, 1805, after the United States had acquired theLouisiana Purchase, the post was named the town of Opelousas and became the seat of the County of Opelousas, part of theTerritory of Orleans. In 1807, when the territory was reorganized into parishes, Opelousas was designated the seat of St. Landry Parish.[8]
TheUnited States gained control of the territory in 1803 through theLouisiana Purchase. Americans from the South and other parts of the United States began to migrate to the area, marking the arrival of the first large English-speaking population and the introduction of the need for more general use of English.[4]
St. Landry Parish was officially established on April 10, 1805, by a legislative act, becoming the largest parish in the Louisiana state. The new parish was named after the St. Landry Catholic Church located near the Opelousas Post.[4] The parish's boundaries encompassed about half the land of the Opelousas Territory, between theAtchafalaya River andSabine River, betweenRapides Parish andVernon Parish, andLafayette andSt. Martin Parishes. Since then, the area of the parish has decreased, as six additional parishes have been created from its territory. These includeCalcasieu,Acadia,Evangeline,Jeff Davis,Beauregard, andAllen.[4]
In 1821 the second educational institution west of the Mississippi was founded inGrand Coteau. In this community south of Opelousas is the Academy of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic school founded by the French Creole community.[9]
The city ofOpelousas has been the seat of government for the St. Landry Parish since its formation.[4] AfterBaton Rouge fell to the Union troops during the Civil War in 1862, Opelousas became the state capital for nine months. The capital was moved again in 1863, this time toShreveport when Union troops occupied Opelousas.[10][11]
St. Landry Parish originally consisted of all the territory in the current parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, and St. Landry. Over time, it was separated into three different parishes. The southwestern portion of St. Landry was broken off to becomeAcadia Parish in 1886. A bill was introduced in the Louisiana House of Representatives entitled "An act to create the parish of Nicholls, and to provide for the organization thereof."[12] The title was later changed to read: "An act to create the parish of Acadia." Father Joseph Anthonioz, the first pastor of the Catholic Church atRayne, is credited with having suggested the name, Acadia Parish. The bill passed the house on June 11, the senate on June 28, and was approved by GovernorSamuel D. McEnery on June 30.[13] On October 6, an election was held to affirm the creation of the parish, with 2,516 votes for and 1,521 votes against the creation.
St. Landry was divided again when the northwestern portion was broken away. In June 1908, a bill was passed to create a new parish out of a portion of St. Landry Parish. This new parish became namedEvangeline Parish in 1910. Prior to creation of the new parish, Eunice andVille Platte were in competition for the new parish seat. Ville Platte was selected by voters on April 12, 1909. After the election, Eunice declared it would remain in St. Landry Parish.[14]
In the aftermath of the ratification of Louisiana's Constitution of 1868 and theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, tensions between white Democrats and Black Republicans in St. Landry Parish escalated throughout the summer of 1868. On September 28, white schoolteacher and Republican newspaper editor Emerson Bentley was attacked and beaten by threewhite supremacists while teaching a classroom of Black children inOpelousas, Louisiana. Rumors of Bentley's death, while unfounded, led both Black Republicans and white supremacist Democrats, including the St. Landry Parish chapter of theKnights of the White Camelia, to threaten violent retribution. In the days following Bentley's subsequent covert flight to New Orleans, the massacre began. Heavily outnumbered, Black citizens were chased, captured, shot, murdered, and lynched during the following weeks. While estimates of casualties vary widely, several sources number the deaths between 200 and 300 black people and several dozen whites, making it the bloodiest massacres of theReconstruction Era and among the deadliest in American history. Following the massacre, the Republican Party in St. Landry Parish was eliminated for several years.[15]
During 10 days,three black churches, the St. Mary Baptist Church over 100 years old (March 26, 2019), Greater Union Baptist Church (April 2, 2019), and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church (April 4, 2019) set on fire by a vandal and this incident raised officials concern that the fires started byracist andradical group or person. Finally, police arrested the vandal who was the son of aSt. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy. Holden Matthews, 21, has been charged with the arson attack on black churches.[16][17][18]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 939 square miles (2,430 km2), of which 924 square miles (2,390 km2) is land and 15 square miles (39 km2) (0.6%) is water.[19]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1830 | 12,591 | — | |
| 1840 | 15,233 | 21.0% | |
| 1850 | 22,253 | 46.1% | |
| 1860 | 23,104 | 3.8% | |
| 1870 | 25,553 | 10.6% | |
| 1880 | 40,004 | 56.6% | |
| 1890 | 40,250 | 0.6% | |
| 1900 | 52,906 | 31.4% | |
| 1910 | 66,661 | 26.0% | |
| 1920 | 51,697 | −22.4% | |
| 1930 | 60,074 | 16.2% | |
| 1940 | 71,481 | 19.0% | |
| 1950 | 78,476 | 9.8% | |
| 1960 | 81,493 | 3.8% | |
| 1970 | 80,364 | −1.4% | |
| 1980 | 84,128 | 4.7% | |
| 1990 | 80,331 | −4.5% | |
| 2000 | 87,700 | 9.2% | |
| 2010 | 83,384 | −4.9% | |
| 2020 | 82,540 | −1.0% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[20] 1790-1960[21] 1900-1990[22] 1990-2000[23] 2010[24] | |||
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 1980[25] | Pop 1990[26] | Pop 2000[27] | Pop 2010[28] | Pop 2020[29] | % 1980 | % 1990 | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 51,120 | 47,185 | 49,160 | 46,025 | 43,225 | 60.76% | 58.74% | 56.05% | 55.20% | 52.37% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 31,535 | 32,183 | 36,762 | 34,295 | 34,218 | 37.48% | 40.06% | 41.92% | 41.13% | 41.46% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 35 | 61 | 117 | 263 | 153 | 0.04% | 0.08% | 0.13% | 0.32% | 0.19% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 156 | 174 | 177 | 314 | 374 | 0.19% | 0.22% | 0.20% | 0.38% | 0.45% |
| Native Hawaiian orPacific Islander alone (NH) | x[30] | x[31] | 12 | 4 | 12 | x | x | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.01% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 70 | 89 | 153 | 218 | 282 | 0.08% | 0.11% | 0.17% | 0.26% | 0.34% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | x[32] | x[33] | 525 | 944 | 2,098 | x | x | 0.60% | 1.13% | 2.54% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1,212 | 639 | 794 | 1,321 | 2,178 | 1.44% | 0.80% | 0.91% | 1.58% | 2.64% |
| Total | 84,128 | 80,331 | 87,700 | 83,384 | 82,540 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the2020 United States census, there were 82,540 people, 30,441 households, and 20,790 families residing in the parish.
| St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | SLPSO |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | United States |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Opelousas, Louisiana |
| Agency executive |
|
| Facilities | |
| Substations | 5 |
| Website | |
| http://www.slpsheriff.com/ | |
The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office (SLPSO) is the primary law enforcement agency of St. Landry Parish. It falls under the authority of theSheriff, who is the chief law enforcement officer of the parish. As of 2022[update] the sheriff of St. Landry Parish is Bobby J. Guidroz.[34]
The office briefly became the subject of national attention in 2015 when its eccentricCrime Stoppers videos, starring public relations officer (later U.S. Representative)Clay Higgins, went viral and were featured onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[35] Higgins left the department after the videos attracted criticism from the ACLU and Sheriff Guidroz ordered that future videos be "toned down".[36][37]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1912 | 101 | 8.31% | 938 | 77.20% | 176 | 14.49% |
| 1916 | 117 | 31.03% | 139 | 36.87% | 121 | 32.10% |
| 1920 | 942 | 48.09% | 1,017 | 51.91% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1924 | 357 | 20.86% | 1,354 | 79.14% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 718 | 17.46% | 3,394 | 82.54% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 297 | 7.31% | 3,766 | 92.69% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 441 | 7.25% | 5,639 | 92.75% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 561 | 8.11% | 6,358 | 91.89% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1944 | 784 | 15.06% | 4,423 | 84.94% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 829 | 10.70% | 1,179 | 15.22% | 5,739 | 74.08% |
| 1952 | 5,303 | 52.69% | 4,761 | 47.31% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 5,141 | 51.56% | 4,435 | 44.48% | 394 | 3.95% |
| 1960 | 3,083 | 15.22% | 14,625 | 72.18% | 2,554 | 12.60% |
| 1964 | 10,920 | 48.05% | 11,807 | 51.95% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 3,508 | 13.90% | 9,075 | 35.95% | 12,659 | 50.15% |
| 1972 | 12,510 | 57.01% | 7,421 | 33.82% | 2,014 | 9.18% |
| 1976 | 9,956 | 37.94% | 15,613 | 59.49% | 674 | 2.57% |
| 1980 | 14,940 | 45.72% | 17,125 | 52.41% | 613 | 1.88% |
| 1984 | 19,055 | 51.19% | 17,950 | 48.22% | 218 | 0.59% |
| 1988 | 15,790 | 44.53% | 19,091 | 53.84% | 576 | 1.62% |
| 1992 | 11,882 | 32.27% | 20,383 | 55.37% | 4,550 | 12.36% |
| 1996 | 12,273 | 34.62% | 20,636 | 58.21% | 2,544 | 7.18% |
| 2000 | 15,449 | 45.24% | 18,067 | 52.90% | 635 | 1.86% |
| 2004 | 18,315 | 49.82% | 18,166 | 49.42% | 279 | 0.76% |
| 2008 | 21,650 | 50.95% | 20,268 | 47.70% | 575 | 1.35% |
| 2012 | 21,475 | 51.56% | 19,668 | 47.23% | 504 | 1.21% |
| 2016 | 21,971 | 54.96% | 17,209 | 43.05% | 797 | 1.99% |
| 2020 | 23,171 | 56.30% | 17,372 | 42.21% | 611 | 1.48% |
| 2024 | 21,812 | 58.88% | 14,833 | 40.04% | 398 | 1.07% |
St. Landry Parish is served by the St. Landry Parish School Board
St. Landry Parish is also served by theDiocese of Lafayette with five schools:
Additionally, St. Landry Parish is served by four unaffiliated private schools:
St. Landry Parish is served by two institutions of higher education:
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Geology
Places adjacent to St. Landry Parish, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofSt. Landry Parish, Louisiana,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent parish or parishes | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
