Evangeline Parish, Louisiana


Evangeline Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. the population was 32,350. The parish seat is Ville Platte.
WWW Official Site

History

The parish was created out of lands formerly belonging to St. Landry Parish in 1910. The majority of the area was originally settled by French Canadian colonists and former colonial marines 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 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 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. 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, of Savoy, France..

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

National protected area

State parks

Communities

City

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 [United States census|2020 census], the parish had a population of 32,350 and a median age of 39.4 years; 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.0 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the parish was 66.0% White, 26.8% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.8% from some other race, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 4.1% of the population.
25.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 75.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 12,728 households in the parish, of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.2% were married-couple households, 19.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 14,416 housing units, of which 11.7% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 67.2% were owner-occupied and 32.8% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.7%.
The most reported ancestries were African American, English, French, Cajun, Irish, and German.

Education

Public Schools in Evangeline Parish are operated by the Evangeline Parish School Board.
Evangeline Parish is also served by the Diocese of Lafayette with one school:
Additionally, Evangeline Parish is served by one unaffiliated private school:
Evangeline Parish is served by one institutions of higher education:

Notable people

Politics

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.

National Guard

The 1086th Transportation Company of the 165th CSS Battalion resides in Ville Platte, Louisiana. This unit belongs to the 139th RSG.