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Courthouse fire helped create Acadia
A fire on March 22, 1886, that destroyed the St. Landry Parish courthouse in Opelousas is at least partially responsible for the creation of Acadia Parish. There had been an attempt some 15 years ...
Jun 19, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 39 39 recommendations | email to a friend
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Chataignier gets name from a tree
The Evangeline Parish town of Chataignier is named for a tree that isn't seen there very often anymore. It was a small tree, more commonly called a "chinquapin," that once dotted the surrounding pr...
Jun 12, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 33 33 recommendations | email to a friend
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Poppies reminders of valor
At the end of World War I, the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lt. Col. John McCrae of the Canadian army became something of a national reminder of the valor of the young men who fought and died in Fr...
May 29, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 27 27 recommendations | email to a friend
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A flood by the numbers
Numbers are daunting for many of us. For instance, what does 1.5 million cubic feet of water per second really mean? Or 114,000 cfs, for that matter? The former is what the Corps of Engineers said ...
May 26, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 97 97 recommendations | email to a friend
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Another good story untrue
It's hard to let go of stories linking us to heroes, such as the one that has circulated for years in Acadiana about one of Robert E. Lee's daughters dying at Avery Island. But it's almost certai...
May 22, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 29 29 recommendations | email to a friend
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Charles Morgan saw opportunity
The town of Brashear City changed its name to Morgan City in 1876 in tribute to Charles Morgan, a Yankee transportation magnate who saw that the combination of a railroad leading from New Orleans a...
May 15, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 28 28 recommendations | email to a friend
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Booker T. Washington toured Acadiana
On April 14, 1915, one of the most influential black men in U.S. history toured south Louisiana, stopping in New Iberia, Lafayette, and Crowley. Booker Talliaferro Washington, founder of the famous...
Apr 10, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 33 33 recommendations | email to a friend
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Mervine Kahn's was place to shop
The Mervine Kahn store was one of the largest and fanciest in south Louisiana for many years but the Rayne landmark was opened almost by accident. Kahn and Michel Schmulen were on their way to ope...
Apr 03, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 35 35 recommendations | email to a friend
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Bendel name lives in stores across country
Henri Bendel died 75 years ago this week. His name is remembered in Acadiana because of the Bendel Gardens subdivision in Lafayette. But that’s not why he’s still remembered in places where high f...
Mar 20, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 41 41 recommendations | email to a friend
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Tales abound of Lafitte's gold
I've found no more than this little piece from the Lafayette Democrat of Nov. 7, 1908, about the treasure scam that suckered tens of thousands of dollars from a handful of residents: "Price Choat, ...
Mar 13, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 38 38 recommendations | email to a friend
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Basile celebrating centennial
The Evangeline Parish community of Basile is marking the 100th anniversary of its incorporation this month, but its history starts more than a century ago. Basile was first known as Schamber Post ...
Mar 06, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 28 28 recommendations | email to a friend
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Duson bad guy was well armed
It was big news in Duson when fast living and local police caught up with Robert Benton Mathus on the morning of March 19, 1953. He was one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Men when Lafayette Sheriff Ma...
Feb 27, 2011 | 0 0 comments | 34 34 recommendations | email to a friend
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