Gueydan, Louisiana
Encyclopedia
Gueydan is a town
in Vermilion Parish
, Louisiana
, United States
. The population was 1,598 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abbeville
Micropolitan Statistical Area.
lived along the waterways of Louisiana. They were able to hunt plentiful game and harvest fish from the rivers. In historic times, this area was inhabited by the Attakapa and Chitimacha
.
In the early 1860s, Jean Pierre Gueydan, the founder of the European-American town, lived in Abbeville, Louisiana
, about 30 miles east of present-day Gueydan. As had the Attapaka and earlier American Indian
tribes, he often came to the future town site to hunt deer
, duck
s, geese, pheasant
, cache-cache (Jack Snipe
), papabottes
, and other game. The area was a hunter's paradise. Game and fish
were boundless.
In 1884 the brothers Jean Pierre and Francois Gueydan purchased forty thousand acres (160 km²) of land described by surveyors as "sea marsh, unfit for cultivation", for twelve and one-half cents per acre
. By 1896 a small portion of their purchase became known as the "Gueydan Pasture". It was chartered as a village when the population reached 250. Jean Pierre was the official founder of Gueydan, as by then he had purchased his brother's landholdings. In 1902, the settlement became the town of Gueydan.
Realizing the importance of a railroad to the rice
farmers, Gueydan donated a section of land and extensive right-of-way to induce the Southern Pacific Railroad
to build a branch line from Midland, Louisiana
. Shortly after, he offered the first property lots for sale. Settlers began to arrive from other parts of the state and the rest of the country.
The first irrigation
pump
in the state of Louisiana was built nearby at Primeaux Landing. This enabled water to be pumped to irrigate thousands of acres of rice. With the pump, the area grew as a producer of rice. In the late 19th century, farmers recruited Italian immigrants as laborers, but they quickly left the role of farm workers. Some established local businesses, such as groceries, barber shops and tailors, in small towns across Louisiana.
The founder Jean Pierre Gueydan lived at his plantation, St. Bennette, about two miles south of the community. In 1894 the plantation house was used to house the town's first school, which opened with 10 students.
The town of Gueydan suffered numerous near catastrophes. Fires in 1901, 1903, 1910, and 1927 caused extensive damage. The worst tragedy was the Flood of 1940. After near-record rainfalls in August 1940, the entire town was inundated. Locals still vividly recall the disaster. The area had extensive flooding because it is nearly flat prairie, with an average elevation of only nine feet above the Gulf of Mexico
. The elevation tends to be in the range of 5 to 12 feet.
The whole area was once low marshy land, now called wetlands, subject to overflow by the waters of the nearby Mermentau River
. Developers created a modern system of canals for drainage purposes and irrigation as early as 1901, but it interfered with the natural processes of the wetlands. Development of the town and rice culture further reduced the natural capacity of the wetlands to absorb flooding, and created a built-up area where flooding was a threat.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 1,598 people, 644 households, and 416 families residing in the town. The population density
was 1,874.9 people per square mile (725.9/km²). There were 724 housing units at an average density of 849.5 per square mile (328.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 86.61% White, 12.83% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.31% from other races
, and 0.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.25% of the population.
There were 644 households out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples
living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $22,165, and the median income for a family was $32,039. Males had a median income of $25,682 versus $13,500 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $13,738. About 16.1% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.6% of those under age 18 and 21.9% of those age 65 or over.
, and is officially recognized as the Duck Capital of America. The Louisiana state championships for duck and goose calling are held in conjunction with the festival.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in Vermilion Parish
Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
Vermilion Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Abbeville. As of the 2010 census, the population was 57,999....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 1,598 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Abbeville
Abbeville, Louisiana
Abbeville is a town in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 census...
Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
For thousands of years, indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
lived along the waterways of Louisiana. They were able to hunt plentiful game and harvest fish from the rivers. In historic times, this area was inhabited by the Attakapa and Chitimacha
Chitimacha
The Chitimacha are a Native American federally recognized tribe that lives in the U.S. state of Louisiana, mainly in St. Mary Parish. They currently number about 720 people. The Chitimacha language is a language isolate.- History :The Chitimacha's historic home was the southern Louisiana coast...
.
In the early 1860s, Jean Pierre Gueydan, the founder of the European-American town, lived in Abbeville, Louisiana
Abbeville, Louisiana
Abbeville is a town in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 census...
, about 30 miles east of present-day Gueydan. As had the Attapaka and earlier American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes, he often came to the future town site to hunt deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, geese, pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
, cache-cache (Jack Snipe
Jack Snipe
The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only member of the genus Lymnocryptes...
), papabottes
Scolopacidae
The sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil...
, and other game. The area was a hunter's paradise. Game and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
were boundless.
In 1884 the brothers Jean Pierre and Francois Gueydan purchased forty thousand acres (160 km²) of land described by surveyors as "sea marsh, unfit for cultivation", for twelve and one-half cents per acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
. By 1896 a small portion of their purchase became known as the "Gueydan Pasture". It was chartered as a village when the population reached 250. Jean Pierre was the official founder of Gueydan, as by then he had purchased his brother's landholdings. In 1902, the settlement became the town of Gueydan.
Realizing the importance of a railroad to the rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
farmers, Gueydan donated a section of land and extensive right-of-way to induce the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
to build a branch line from Midland, Louisiana
Midland, Louisiana
Midland is a small farming unincorporated community in Acadia Parish, Louisiana located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Louisiana Highway 91...
. Shortly after, he offered the first property lots for sale. Settlers began to arrive from other parts of the state and the rest of the country.
The first irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
pump
Pump
A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...
in the state of Louisiana was built nearby at Primeaux Landing. This enabled water to be pumped to irrigate thousands of acres of rice. With the pump, the area grew as a producer of rice. In the late 19th century, farmers recruited Italian immigrants as laborers, but they quickly left the role of farm workers. Some established local businesses, such as groceries, barber shops and tailors, in small towns across Louisiana.
The founder Jean Pierre Gueydan lived at his plantation, St. Bennette, about two miles south of the community. In 1894 the plantation house was used to house the town's first school, which opened with 10 students.
The town of Gueydan suffered numerous near catastrophes. Fires in 1901, 1903, 1910, and 1927 caused extensive damage. The worst tragedy was the Flood of 1940. After near-record rainfalls in August 1940, the entire town was inundated. Locals still vividly recall the disaster. The area had extensive flooding because it is nearly flat prairie, with an average elevation of only nine feet above the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. The elevation tends to be in the range of 5 to 12 feet.
The whole area was once low marshy land, now called wetlands, subject to overflow by the waters of the nearby Mermentau River
Mermentau River
The Mermentau River is a river in southern Louisiana in the United States. It enters the Gulf of Mexico between Calcasieu Lake and Vermilion Bay on the Chenier Coastal Plain.The Mermentau River supplies freshwater for the Mermentau Basin...
. Developers created a modern system of canals for drainage purposes and irrigation as early as 1901, but it interfered with the natural processes of the wetlands. Development of the town and rice culture further reduced the natural capacity of the wetlands to absorb flooding, and created a built-up area where flooding was a threat.
Notable residents
- Iron Eyes CodyIron Eyes CodyIron Eyes Cody was an American actor. He frequently portrayed American Indians in Hollywood films. In 1995, Cody was honored by the American Indian community for his work publicizing the plight of Native Americans, including his acting in films...
grew up here. (Of Sicilian descent, he was born Espera de Corti, but portrayed Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
as a film actor in more than 200 films)
- Bob HensgensBob HensgensCraig Robert Hensgens, known as Bob Hensgens , is the Republican state representative from House District 47 in Vermilion and Cameron parishes in far southwestern Louisiana.-Background:...
, the former mayor of Gueydan, is the RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
state representativeLouisiana State LegislatureThe Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from Vermilion and CameronCameron Parish, LouisianaCameron Parish is the parish with the most land area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Cameron and as of 2010, the population was 6,839...
parishes.
Geography
Gueydan is located at 30°1′38"N 92°30′27"W (30.027123, -92.507449).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,598 people, 644 households, and 416 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,874.9 people per square mile (725.9/km²). There were 724 housing units at an average density of 849.5 per square mile (328.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 86.61% White, 12.83% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.31% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.25% of the population.
There were 644 households out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $22,165, and the median income for a family was $32,039. Males had a median income of $25,682 versus $13,500 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $13,738. About 16.1% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.6% of those under age 18 and 21.9% of those age 65 or over.
Duck festival
The town is the site of the annual Duck Festival,which is held the weekend before Labor DayLabor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
, and is officially recognized as the Duck Capital of America. The Louisiana state championships for duck and goose calling are held in conjunction with the festival.