Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

Evangeline Parish (French: Paroisse d'Évangéline) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census,^[update] the population was 32,350.^[1] The parish seat is Ville Platte.^[2]

Evangeline Parish
Parish
Evangeline Bank and Trust Co. Building, Ville Platte, Louisiana
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 30°44′N 92°25′W
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Founded	1910
Named after	Acadian heroine of the poem "Evangeline"
Seat	Ville Platte
Largest city	Ville Platte
Area
• Total	680 sq mi (1,800 km2)
• Land	662 sq mi (1,710 km2)
• Water	17 sq mi (40 km2)  2.5%
Population  (2020)
• Total	32,350
• Density	48/sq mi (18/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	4th

History

The parish was created out of lands formerly belonging to St. Landry Parish in 1910.^[3] The majority of the area was originally settled by French Canadian colonists and former colonial marines (coureurs de bois) from such outposts as Fort Toulouse and Fort Kaskaskia and later included 19th-century French-speaking soldiers and immigrant families.

The early generations were born in colonial French colonies, which included the enormous Louisiana territory ('Upper and Lower' Louisiana) known as "la Nouvelle France", and later were born under Spanish rule.

Many people of Evangeline are primarily of French, English, and Spanish descent from Louisiana's colonial period. Examples of the French family names are Fontenot, Brignac, Ardoin, Bordelon, Vidrine, Courville, Gaspard, LaFleur, Chataignier, Dupre, Berza, Manuel, Ratelle, Fuselier, Landreneau, Andrepont, Guillory, Soileau, LeBas, and Gobert, among others. People of Spanish Canary Islands heritage (Isleños) can be observed to have settled in the Parish as well, bringing names like Aguillard, Casaneuva, De Soto, Ortego, Rozas, and Segura. Many English Americans as colonists came from the Eastern United States to settle in the newly purchased Louisiana Territory often married into Acadian families. Some prominent English surnames include Chapman, Kershaw, Young, Reed, Langley, Tate and Buller.

A few Acadians such as François Pitre and his wife settled the area between Evangeline and St. Landry parishes, preferring the rich pre-American and pre–Civil War era Cajun planter's lifestyle over that of the humble and isolated existence of their Acadiana cousins.

The parish was named Evangeline in honor of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem, Evangeline. It was from this poem that founding father Paulin Fontenot was to propose the namesake of "Evangeline" for this parish, allegedly foreseeing an emerging American tourism centered upon the Acadian saga. (See Ville Platte Gazette, Sept. 2010) In 19th-century American literature, she would gain popularity through Hollywood's interest, and thus began the embryonic 'Acadian-based' tourism which sprang up in St. Martinville. Evangeline Parish is mentioned in the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927", in which he described the Great Mississippi Flood which covered it with six feet of water.

Ville Platte, Louisiana, the seat of Evangeline Parish, was itself so named by one of Napoleon Bonaparte's former soldiers, Adjutant Major Marcellin Garand (1781–1852), of Savoy, France. (See Napoleon's Soldiers In America, by Simone de la Souchere-Delery, 1999).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 680 square miles (1,800 km²), of which 662 square miles (1,710 km²) is land and 17 square miles (44 km²) (2.5%) is water.^[4]

Major highways

• Interstate 49
• U.S. Highway 167
• U.S. Highway 190
• Louisiana Highway 10
• Louisiana Highway 13
• Louisiana Highway 29

Adjacent parishes

• Rapides Parish (north)
• Avoyelles Parish (northeast)
• St. Landry Parish (east)
• Acadia Parish (south)
• Allen Parish (west)

National protected area

• Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (part)

State parks

• Chicot State Park
• Louisiana State Arboretum

Communities

Map of Evangeline Parish, with municipal labels

City

• Ville Platte (parish seat and largest municipality)

Towns

• Basile
• Mamou

Villages

• Chataignier
• Pine Prairie
• Turkey Creek

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

• Reddell

Other unincorporated communities

• Barber Spur
• Bayou Chicot
• Beale
• Beaver
• Belaire Cove
• Centerville
• Clarks Landing
• Clearwater
• Cypress Creek
• Dossman
• Duralde
• Easton
• Fenris
• Frilot Cove
• Johnson Landing
• Lake Cove
• L'Anse Grise
• Lone Pine
• Meridian
• Nobrac
• Point Blue
• Redland
• Saint Landry
• Squealer Point Landing
• Tate Cove
• Tyrone
• Unatex
• Vidrine

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1920	23,485		—
1930	25,483		8.5%
1940	30,497		19.7%
1950	31,629		3.7%
1960	31,639		0.0%
1970	31,932		0.9%
1980	33,343		4.4%
1990	33,274		−0.2%
2000	35,434		6.5%
2010	33,984		−4.1%
2020	32,350		−4.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[5] 1790-1960[6] 1900-1990[7] 1990-2000[8] 2010[9]

Evangeline Parish racial composition as of 2020^[10]

Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	21,162	65.42%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	8,609	26.61%
Native American	45	0.14%
Asian	183	0.57%
Pacific Islander	2	0.01%
Other/Mixed	1,013	3.13%
Hispanic or Latino	1,336	4.13%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 32,350 people, 12,172 households, and 7,739 families residing in the parish. The most commonly reported ancestries were African American (14.4%), English (13.1%), French (7.1%), Cajun (2.9%), Irish (2.5%), and German (2.1%).^[11]

Education

Public Schools in Evangeline Parish are operated by the Evangeline Parish School Board.

• Bayou Chicot Elementary School (Grades PK-8) (Ville Platte)
• Chataignier Elementary School (Grades PK-8) (Chataignier)
• James Stephens Montessori School (Grades PK-6) (Ville Platte)
• Mamou Elementary School (Grades PK-4) (Mamou)
• Vidrine Elementary School (Grades PK-8) (Ville Platte)
• Ville Platte Elementary School (Grades PK-4) (Ville Platte)
• W. W. Stewart Elementary (Grades PK-4) (Basile)
• Basile High School (Grades 5–12) (Basile)
• Mamou High School (Grades 5–12) (Mamou)
• Pine Prairie High School (Grades 9–12) (Pine Prairie)
• Ville Platte High School (Grades 5–12) (Ville Platte)
• Evangeline Central School (Grades 4–12) (Ville Platte)

Evangeline Parish is also served by the Diocese of Lafayette with one school:

• Sacred Heart School (Grades K-12) (Ville Platte)

Additionally, Evangeline Parish is served by one unaffiliated private school:

• Christian Heritage Academy (Grade K) (Ville Platte)

Evangeline Parish is served by one institutions of higher education:

• South Louisiana Community College service area,^[12] C. B. Coreil Campus (Ville Platte

Notable people

• Amédé Ardoin, Creole singer and Cajun accordion virtuoso
• Danny Ardoin, former MLB catcher
• Dewey Balfa, Cajun fiddler
• Jeffery Broussard, zydeco musician
• Edgar Chatman, former professional baseball player
• Harry Choates, Cajun fiddler
• Rene L. De Rouen, former US Representative from Louisiana's 7th congressional district from 1927-1940
• Winston De Ville - noted genealogist and publisher of hundreds of articles and numerous books
• Austin Deculus, NFL offensive lineman
• J. Douglas Deshotel, Roman Catholic bishop
• Eric LaFleur, lawyer and Senator and sponsor of several important bills and represented historic Senate Resolution #30
• Joseph Verbis Lafleur, Roman Catholic priest and US Army chaplain and officer who died in the sinking of the SS Shinyo Maru during World War II who is also in the preliminary stages of canonization.
• Ladislas Lazaro, former US Representative from Louisiana's 7th congressional district from 1913-1927.
• Barry Manuel, former professional baseball pitcher
• Tommy McClelland, athletic director at Rice University
• Jimmy C. Newman, Cajun and country music singer-songwriter
• Austin Pitre, Cajun musician
• Ronald G. Richard, retired Marine Corps major general and former commandant of Camp Lejeune
• Steve Riley, accordion player and co-founder of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
• Floyd Soileau, record producer
• Leo Soileau, Cajun musician and recording artist
• Keith Sonnier, artist and sculptor
• T. Ashton Thompson, US Representative from Louisiana's 7th congressional district from 1953-1965
• Arthur Vidrine, former dean of Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans and physician who operated on former Louisiana governor and then US Senator Huey P. Long after he suffered mortal wounds in an assassination attempt in 1935
• Clyde Vidrine, famous bodyguard for former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards

Politics

United States presidential election results for Evangeline Parish, Louisiana^[13]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	10,483	73.95%	3,526	24.87%	167	1.18%
2020	11,053	71.72%	4,158	26.98%	201	1.30%
2016	10,360	69.61%	4,208	28.28%	314	2.11%
2012	10,181	64.56%	5,330	33.80%	259	1.64%
2008	9,793	61.30%	5,853	36.64%	330	2.07%
2004	7,949	56.86%	5,757	41.18%	273	1.95%
2000	7,290	53.56%	5,763	42.34%	559	4.11%
1996	5,278	35.53%	7,847	52.83%	1,729	11.64%
1992	5,147	31.43%	8,564	52.30%	2,665	16.27%
1988	7,437	48.29%	7,693	49.95%	270	1.75%
1984	8,680	54.78%	6,981	44.06%	183	1.16%
1980	7,412	51.26%	6,722	46.48%	327	2.26%
1976	3,715	32.14%	7,578	65.56%	265	2.29%
1972	5,523	60.03%	2,919	31.72%	759	8.25%
1968	1,549	13.40%	2,647	22.90%	7,362	63.70%
1964	3,975	39.21%	6,163	60.79%	0	0.00%
1960	1,105	11.32%	7,865	80.55%	794	8.13%
1956	2,170	38.20%	3,336	58.73%	174	3.06%
1952	2,445	41.84%	3,398	58.16%	0	0.00%
1948	206	3.57%	1,149	19.90%	4,418	76.53%
1944	275	8.32%	3,029	91.68%	0	0.00%
1940	220	5.81%	3,569	94.19%	0	0.00%
1936	331	8.68%	3,484	91.32%	0	0.00%
1932	52	1.64%	3,115	98.36%	0	0.00%
1928	300	13.81%	1,873	86.19%	0	0.00%
1924	153	20.21%	603	79.66%	1	0.13%
1920	587	51.99%	542	48.01%	0	0.00%
1916	26	2.99%	808	92.77%	37	4.25%
1912	31	5.68%	457	83.70%	58	10.62%

For most of the 20th Century, Evangeline was a Democratic-leaning parish, voting Republican only in landslide elections such as 1972, 1980 and 1984. However, like other Acadian parishes with large Cajun populations, Evangeline turned sharply right in the 21st century based on cultural issues and Democrats' discomfort with the oil and gas industry.^[14]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

• United States portal

Sources

• Title: The Cajunization of French Louisiana: Forging a Regional Identity. Authors: Trepanier, Cecyle Source: Geographical Journal; Jul 91, Vol. 157 Issue 2, p161, 11p, 2 charts, 10 maps
• French, Cajun, Creole, Houma : a primer on francophone Louisiana / Carl A. Brasseaux.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20091026030323/http://geocities.com/old_time_time/many.htm
• A history of Evangeline : its land, its men and its women who made it a beautiful place to live, Robert Gahn, Sr. ; edited by Revon John Reed, Sr. Baton Rouge, LA : Claitor's, c 1972
• La Voix des Prairies, Evangeline Genealogical and Historical Society.
• Bonnes Nouvelles : good news about people, places and things in Evangeline Parish. Ville Platte, La. : Bonnes Nouvelles, 1993-
• Fort Toulouse : The French Outpost at the Alabamas on the Coosa, Gregory A. Thomas
• Louisiana's French Creole Culinary & Linguistic Traditions: Facts vs. Fiction Before And Since Cajunization, John laFleur II, Brian Costello w/ Dr. Ina Fandrich 2013
• Louisiana's Creole French People, Our Food, Language & Culture: 500 Years of Culture copyright 2014, John laFleur II

National Guard

The 1086th Transportation Company of the 165th CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion resides in Ville Platte, Louisiana. This unit belongs to the 139th RSG (regional support group).