Opelousas, Louisiana Opelousas, Louisiana Location of Opelousas in Louisiana Location of Louisiana in the United States Opelousas (French: les Opelousas) is a small town/city in and the church seat of St.
Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S.
Although the 2006 populace estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should have put the city's populace above 25,000. In the 2010 census, however, the populace shrunk to 16,634. Opelousas is the principal town/city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated populace of 92,178 in 2008.
Opelousas is also the 3rd biggest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a populace of 537,947.
At only 7.5 square miles, Opelousas is the most densely populated incorporated town/city in Louisiana.
Founded in 1720, Opelousas is Louisiana's 3rd earliest city.
Traditionally an region of settlement by French Creoles and Acadians, Opelousas is the center of zydeco music.
It jubilates its tradition at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center, one of the destinations on the new Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.
Opelousas was also home to one of the nation's two Yoohoo Factories until their closing.
During the tenure of Sheriff Cat Doucet from 1936 to 1940 and 1952 to 1968 that part of Opelousas along Highway 190 was a haven of gambling and prostitution.
In 2000, 89.1% of the populace over the age of five spoke English at home, 9.7% of the populace spoke French or Cajun, and 0.7% spoke Louisiana Creole French. Opelousas takes its name from the Native American tribe Appalousa who had occupied the region before European contact.
In 1719, the French sent the first military to the Territory, when Ensign Nicolas Chauvin de la Freniere and two the rest were sent to patrol the region and in 1720, the French established Opelousas Post as a primary trading organization for the developing area.
The French encouraged immigration to Opelousas Post before they ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762.
Don Alejandro O'Reilly, Spanish governor of Louisiana, issued a territory ordinance to allow pioneer in the frontier of the Opelousas Territory to acquire territory grants.
Numerous settlers: French, Creoles and Acadians, mainly from the Attakapas Territory, came to the Opelousas Territory and acquired territory grants. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, pioneer continued to arrive from St.
(This was Creole as French born in Louisiana, see Louisiana Creole citizens .) Other early French Creole families were Roy, Barre, Guenard, Decuir, and Bail.
In 1805, Opelousas became the seat of the newly formed St.
Landry Parish, also known as the Imperial Parish of Louisiana.
The year 1806 marked the beginning of momentous assembly in Opelousas.
Later in 1806, Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church was founded, becoming the first Methodist, as well as Protestant, church in Louisiana.
Landry Parish Police Jury met in Opelousas, keeping minutes in the two official languages of English and French.
View of St Landry Parish Courthouse at Opelousas amid the Civil War In 1862, after Baton Rouge fell to the Union troops amid the Civil War, Opelousas was designated the state capital for nine months.
The governor's mansion in Opelousas, which was the earliest remaining governor's mansion in Louisiana, was the victim of arson on July 14, 2016, and the structure was reduced to a chimney and its foundation.
There were plans to restore the building to some of its former splendor. The capitol was moved again in 1863, this time to Shreveport, when Union troops occupied Opelousas.
Banks who occupied Opelousas found what the historian John D.
Landry Parish near Opelousas.
According to Winters in his The Civil War in Louisiana, the thieves "robbed the inhabitants in many instances of everything of value they possessed, but taking especially all the fine horses and good arms they could find." Winters added that conscription in the region came to a standstill, as men could avoid the army by staying inside the lines of the jayhawkers.
In 1868, a white mob rioted and killed 25-50 freedmen in Opelousas.
Opelousas enacted ordinances following the abolition of standardized that served to greatly restrict the freedoms of black Americans.
In 1880, the barns reached Opelousas.
In the late 19th century, New York City civil services agencies arranged for resettlement of Catholic orphan kids by sending them to non-urban areas, including Opelousas, in Louisiana and other states.
Opelousas is the heart of a traditional Catholic region of French, Spanish, Canadian and French West Indian ancestry.
In May 1927, Opelousas accepted thousands of refugees following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 in the Mississippi Delta.
Heavy rains in northern and midwestern areas caused intense flooding in areas of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana downstream, especially after levees near Moreauville, Cecilia and Melville collapsed.
People in more southern areas of Louisiana, especially those communities along Bayou Teche, were forced to flee their homes for areas that suffered less damage.
By May 20, over 5,700 refugees were registered in Opelousas, which populace at the time was only 6,000 citizens .
The Yambilee Festival began in 1946 and is the earliest festival held each year in Opelousas.
Since 1982, Opelousas has hosted the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival. Usually held the Saturday before Labor Day at Zydeco Park in Plaisance, the festival features a day of performances by Zydeco musicians, with the goal of keeping the genre alive. Opelousas Mardi Gras Celebration/Street Dance on Court St.- Mardi Gras Opelousas is home to a several enhance and private schools.
The private schools include Opelousas Catholic School, Westminster Christian Academy, Apostolic Christian Academy, New Hope Christian Academy, and Family Worship Christian Academy (FWCA).
Opelousas has many enhance high schools, which are Opelousas Senior High, Northwest High School, and MACA.
Opelousas Junior High serves as the region middle school.
The town/city has seven enhance elementary schools and is home to one of the campuses of South Louisiana Community College. Opelousas is home to KOCZ-LP, a low power improve airways broadcast owned and directed by the Southern Development Foundation.
KOCZ broadcasts music, news, and enhance affairs to listeners now at 92.9, originally was on 103.7, but had to move due to a full power station being licensed to 103.7. Opelousas is home to The Mix KOGM 107.1 - FM which is owned by KSLO Broadcasting, Inc.
Horse racing track Evangeline Downs relocated to Opelousas from its former home in Carencro, Louisiana in 2003 and employs over 750 workers.
Jim Bowie, legendary adventurer and hero of the Alamo, lived in Opelousas for a time.
Chef Tony Chachere was born in Opelousas, site of Tony Chachere Creole Foods, which is still in operation Jay Dean, mayor of Longview, Texas, 2005-2015; Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, effective 2017; born in Opelousas in 1953 Dumas, Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish from 1965 80, was born in Opelousas in 1916 representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional precinct in New Orleans, born in Opelousas in 1873 Richard Eastham (1916 2005), an American actor, was born in Opelousas.
Estilette (1833-1919), state court judge and member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; House Speaker in 1876, resided and buried in Opelousas Friley, Baptist clergyman; through a series of revival meetings in 1880 helped to establish First Baptist Church Opelousas Landry High School in Opelousas before to 1900; Louisiana Technical College's T.
Born in Opelousas on February 29, 1829, he was a Confederate General under General Richard Taylor, and was killed amid the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana Felix Octave Pavy, M.D., member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for St.
Vincent Pierre, state representative for Lafayette Parish since 2012; former Opelousas resident Louisiana Chief Justice Albert Tate, Jr., who later served on the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans.
Robert Wooley, Louisiana insurance commissioner from 2000 06; practiced law in Opelousas as a young attorney in the late 1970s.
The folk-rock singer Lucinda Williams mentions Opelousas in the song Concrete and Barbed Wire from her critically acclaimed album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963; ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, p.
The Opelousas, Courier Opelousas, La., 1852-1910, April 20, 1872 Proceedings Of the Board of Police of the Town of Opelousas, on Monday, April 8th.
"Opelousas Festivals".
City of Opelousas.
Opelousas: The History of a French and Spanish Military Post in America, 1716-1803.
Opelousas: (The Opelousas) Daily World.
Landry Catholic Church in Opelousas, Louisiana.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Opelousas, Louisiana.
Opelousas and St.
Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States
Categories:
Opelousas, Louisiana - Cities in Louisiana - Former state capitals in the United States - Cities in St.
Landry Parish, Louisiana - Parish seats in Louisiana - Louisiana African American Heritage Trail - Populated places established in 1720 - 1720 establishments in the French colonial empire
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