Opelousas, Louisiana

Opelousas: The History of a French and Spanish Military Post in America, 1716–1803.

The French encouraged immigration to the Opelousas Post before they ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762.

Governor Jean-Jacques d’Abbadie opened the "Opelousas Country" to settlers in 1763.

An official post was established in 1764; Frenchman Louis Gérard Pellerin was appointed as the first commandant on July 1, 1764.

The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765–1803.

By 1766, Saint Landry Catholic Church was built.

In 1769, about 100 families, mostly French, were living in the post.

The first official land grant was made in 1782.

In 1805, Opelousas became the seat of the newly formed St.

The year 1806 marked the beginning of significant construction in Opelousas.

Jim Bowie and his family were said to have settled in the area circa 1813.

In 1820, Alex Charles Barre, also a French Creole, founded Port Barre.

The city was incorporated by legislative act on February 14, 1821.

In 1862, after Baton Rouge was liberated by Union troops during the Civil War, Opelousas was designated the state capital for nine months.

The capital was moved again in 1863, this time to Shreveport, when Union troops occupied Opelousas.

In 1868, in what is known as the Opelousas massacre, whites killed 27 African Americans in a mass execution; they had been captured in a protest.

Following this, Opelousas in 1872 enacted ordinances that greatly restricted the freedoms of black Americans.

=== Refugee era and beyond === In 1880, the railroad reached Opelousas.

== Sports == Opelousas was home to the Opelousas Indians, a minor league baseball franchise that was based in Opelousas in 1907, 1932 and 1934–1941.

In the year 1920, segregation at St Landry Catholic Church led local Black Catholics to establish their own parish, Holy Ghost.

In May 1927, Opelousas accepted thousands of refugees following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 in the Mississippi Delta.

At least three Orphan Trains reached this city before 1929.

The Opelousas Orphans played a portion of the 1932 season in the Cotton States League.

Opelousas was an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians (1935–1937, 1939).

During the tenure of Sheriff Cat Doucet, from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1952 to 1968, the section of Opelousas along Highway 190 was a haven of gambling and prostitution, the ...

== Festivals == The annual Yambilee Festival in Opelousas began in 1946.

Fontenot, Ruth Robertson (1955).

Doucet told historian Michael Kurtz that, with the return of Earl Long to the governorship in 1956, Doucet could bring back brothels and casinos and get a take of the proceeds.

The Eternal Stranger: A Study of Jewish Life in the Small Community (New York, 1957), in depth historical and sociological study of the town of Opelousas.

De Ville, Winston (1973).

Since 1982, Opelousas has hosted the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival.

== References == == Further reading == Andrepont, Carola Ann (1992).

In September 1999, Wal-Mart opened a large distribution center just north of the city.

The horse racing track Evangeline Downs relocated to Opelousas from its former home in Carencro, Louisiana, in 2003.

The poem was later put to music by Tom Waits as Home I'll Never Be and included on his 2006 album Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards.

The governor's mansion in Opelousas, which was the oldest remaining governor's mansion in Louisiana, was the victim of arson on July 14, 2016, and the structure was reduced to a...

Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 80,808 in 2020.