Vinton, Louisiana
Encyclopedia
Vinton is a town in Calcasieu Parish
, Louisiana
, United States
. The population was 3,338 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lake Charles
Metropolitan Statistical Area
.
in large part because of the unstable roadbed. The chief means of outside travel in the Parish relied on riverboats plying the Sabine and Calcasieu
Rivers. Much of the marsh and bayous remained impassable. River travel made Lake Charles possible, just as mining for sulfur led to the founding of Sulphur
. There had been numerous attempts to improve transportation throughout the 19th century. Confederate soldiers in 1863 cut a road extending from Niblett’s Bluff on the Sabine River to Alexandria, but it never developed into a major artery. Settlers had long been in the Vinton area. Jean Baptise Granger settled acreage between what is now Vinton and Big Woods about 1827, one of the first pioneers of the area. Even so, the area remained sparsely populated.
Geography was not the main reason the area had few settlers. From the beginning, the Spanish and French disputed the western boundary of Louisiana. When America bought the territory, they inherited the dispute. In 1806, when negotiations bogged down, a neutral strip or buffer zone was created. Both countries agreed not to claim the land in question, referred to as the Rio Hondo Territory. Starting in 1810, both governments removed all settlers in the Rio Hondo Territory, which included a sizable portion of modern Calcasieu Parish. This policy of forced relocation continued until after the Civil War
.
The parish, and Vinton itself, might have remained an undeveloped rural backwater if two signal events had not changed that forever. The first, which had the greatest material impact on the entire community, was the decision by J. Pierpont Morgan’s Louisiana & Texas Railroad Company to construct a railroad from New Orleans to Beaumont, Texas
. The second, and most important for Vinton, was the arrival of a former professor from Indiana named Dr. Seaman A. Knapp
.
Timber brought the railroad. The part of Louisiana that included Calcasieu Parish was also home to the finest longleaf pine in the world. When combined with the stands of cypress and other hardwood lumber, logging was a lucrative prospect. The railroad gave life to Vinton, starting with a switching track. Although there would be a depot later, Vinton began as a whistle-stop called Blair. The source of the name is unknown. Some have speculated that the railroad siding took its name from a local family. However, no family named Blair was in residence in the area at that time. Dr. Seaman A. Knapp completed the founding of Vinton. Precisely what brought Dr. Knapp to Louisiana is unclear. Formerly the president of the Iowa Agricultural College in Ames, Dr. Knapp arrived in Lake Charles in 1884 and went to work running an agricultural business for land developer Jabez B. Watkins. In 1887, he quit his job with Watkins and opened his own land company (some sources claim Dr. Knapp started his company in 1885, but the evidence is inconclusive).
Watkins was a native of Lawrence, Kansas who came to Lake Charles in 1883. Using English capital, Watkins bought 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) of prairie and marshland in Southwest Louisiana. To bring in settlers, he advertised in newspapers across the nation. It is assumed that Dr. Knapp was one of the settlers Watkins attracted to the area. It is also assumed that Dr. Knapp was the leading force behind the first settler in what would become the township of Vinton.
Dr. Knapp purchased from the U.S. Government
the 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) tract of land that would form the basis of the town. At the time, he paid $2.50 an acre. On October 17, 1887 Robert F. Evans, also an Iowa native, purchased an additional 640 acres (2.6 km²). The sources are unclear if the acreage was then sold to Dr. Knapp or Mr. George Horridge. However, the records show that the Southern Real Estate and Guaranty Company bought all land tracts by April 1889. The land was divided into lots and sold at prices ranging between 10 to 25 dollars each. In time, thirty blocks extended the original twelve-block plot of land. When the post office was registered with the U. S. Postmaster General, Vinton, Dr. Knapp’s Iowa hometown, was chosen as the name of the settlement. However, when the U. S. Postmaster designated the name, he left no explanation for his choice so there remains some doubt about the origin of the name.
It is possible that Dr. Knapp was responsible for the large influx of settlers from Vinton, Iowa. The Horridge, Stevenson, Eddie, Ferguson, Stockwell, Morgan, Nelson, Fairchild, Banker, Hall, and Haskill families were Iowa transplants. Some streets still bear the name of those families. Shortly after construction of the first homes came a sawmill, the Methodist Church, and the first public school building. In 1890, Mrs. Mabel K. Kelly became the first teacher in Vinton. A larger school replaced the older structure in 1901.
Between the initial founding of the settlement and its incorporation is an extraordinary event. The winter of 1895 brought a surprise. On February 14–15, the edge of the worst blizzard in American history touched southwestern Louisiana. A record 22 inches (55.9 cm) of snow fell on Lake Charles. Some areas reported snowfall between 18-24 inches. In Vinton, the blizzard crippled the new sheep industry and the farmers salvaged what they could by shaving wool from the dead flocks.
Despite the setback caused by the storm, the town grew steadily, aided by the oil boom following the discovery petroleum reserves in Ged.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 4.9 square miles (12.7 km²), of which, 4.8 square miles (12.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) of it (2.02%) is water.
of 2000, there were 3,338 people, 1,239 households, and 900 families residing in the town. The population density
was 688.5 people per square mile (265.7/km²). There were 1,452 housing units at an average density of 299.5 per square mile (115.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 74.57% White, 23.31% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.09% from other races
, and 1.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.90% of the population.
There were 1,239 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples
living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.3% were non-families. 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the town the population was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $26,556, and the median income for a family was $30,565. Males had a median income of $30,600 versus $14,661 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $13,302. About 18.2% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 17.3% of those age 65 or over.
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Calcasieu Parish[p] is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Charles. As of 2010, the parish population was 192,768...
, 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 3,338 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Lake Charles metropolitan area
The Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in the Acadiana region of southwest Louisiana that covers two parishes - Calcasieu and Cameron. According to a 2009 Census estimate, the MSA had a population of 194,138. It is also part of the larger Lake Charles-Jennings...
.
History of Vinton
The Old Spanish Trail, which was neither old nor Spanish, wandered north and south of what is now U.S. Highway 90U.S. Route 90 in Louisiana
U.S. Highway 90, one of the major east–west U.S. Highways in the Southern United States, runs through southern Louisiana for , serving Lake Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia, Morgan City and New Orleans...
in large part because of the unstable roadbed. The chief means of outside travel in the Parish relied on riverboats plying the Sabine and Calcasieu
Calcasieu River
The Calcasieu River is a river on the Gulf Coast of southwestern Louisiana, U.S.A.. Approximately long, it drains a largely rural area of forests and bayou country, meandering southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The name "Calcasieu" comes from the Native American Atakapa language katkosh, for...
Rivers. Much of the marsh and bayous remained impassable. River travel made Lake Charles possible, just as mining for sulfur led to the founding of Sulphur
Sulphur, Louisiana
Sulphur is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 22,512 at the 2000 census. Sulphur is a suburb of Lake Charles, and is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. There had been numerous attempts to improve transportation throughout the 19th century. Confederate soldiers in 1863 cut a road extending from Niblett’s Bluff on the Sabine River to Alexandria, but it never developed into a major artery. Settlers had long been in the Vinton area. Jean Baptise Granger settled acreage between what is now Vinton and Big Woods about 1827, one of the first pioneers of the area. Even so, the area remained sparsely populated.
Geography was not the main reason the area had few settlers. From the beginning, the Spanish and French disputed the western boundary of Louisiana. When America bought the territory, they inherited the dispute. In 1806, when negotiations bogged down, a neutral strip or buffer zone was created. Both countries agreed not to claim the land in question, referred to as the Rio Hondo Territory. Starting in 1810, both governments removed all settlers in the Rio Hondo Territory, which included a sizable portion of modern Calcasieu Parish. This policy of forced relocation continued until after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
The parish, and Vinton itself, might have remained an undeveloped rural backwater if two signal events had not changed that forever. The first, which had the greatest material impact on the entire community, was the decision by J. Pierpont Morgan’s Louisiana & Texas Railroad Company to construct a railroad from New Orleans to Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
. The second, and most important for Vinton, was the arrival of a former professor from Indiana named Dr. Seaman A. Knapp
Seaman A. Knapp
Seaman Asahel Knapp was a Union College graduate, Phi Beta Kappa member, physician, college instructor, and, later, administrator, who took up farming late in life, moving to Iowa to raise general crops and livestock....
.
Timber brought the railroad. The part of Louisiana that included Calcasieu Parish was also home to the finest longleaf pine in the world. When combined with the stands of cypress and other hardwood lumber, logging was a lucrative prospect. The railroad gave life to Vinton, starting with a switching track. Although there would be a depot later, Vinton began as a whistle-stop called Blair. The source of the name is unknown. Some have speculated that the railroad siding took its name from a local family. However, no family named Blair was in residence in the area at that time. Dr. Seaman A. Knapp completed the founding of Vinton. Precisely what brought Dr. Knapp to Louisiana is unclear. Formerly the president of the Iowa Agricultural College in Ames, Dr. Knapp arrived in Lake Charles in 1884 and went to work running an agricultural business for land developer Jabez B. Watkins. In 1887, he quit his job with Watkins and opened his own land company (some sources claim Dr. Knapp started his company in 1885, but the evidence is inconclusive).
Watkins was a native of Lawrence, Kansas who came to Lake Charles in 1883. Using English capital, Watkins bought 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) of prairie and marshland in Southwest Louisiana. To bring in settlers, he advertised in newspapers across the nation. It is assumed that Dr. Knapp was one of the settlers Watkins attracted to the area. It is also assumed that Dr. Knapp was the leading force behind the first settler in what would become the township of Vinton.
Dr. Knapp purchased from the U.S. Government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
the 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) tract of land that would form the basis of the town. At the time, he paid $2.50 an acre. On October 17, 1887 Robert F. Evans, also an Iowa native, purchased an additional 640 acres (2.6 km²). The sources are unclear if the acreage was then sold to Dr. Knapp or Mr. George Horridge. However, the records show that the Southern Real Estate and Guaranty Company bought all land tracts by April 1889. The land was divided into lots and sold at prices ranging between 10 to 25 dollars each. In time, thirty blocks extended the original twelve-block plot of land. When the post office was registered with the U. S. Postmaster General, Vinton, Dr. Knapp’s Iowa hometown, was chosen as the name of the settlement. However, when the U. S. Postmaster designated the name, he left no explanation for his choice so there remains some doubt about the origin of the name.
It is possible that Dr. Knapp was responsible for the large influx of settlers from Vinton, Iowa. The Horridge, Stevenson, Eddie, Ferguson, Stockwell, Morgan, Nelson, Fairchild, Banker, Hall, and Haskill families were Iowa transplants. Some streets still bear the name of those families. Shortly after construction of the first homes came a sawmill, the Methodist Church, and the first public school building. In 1890, Mrs. Mabel K. Kelly became the first teacher in Vinton. A larger school replaced the older structure in 1901.
Between the initial founding of the settlement and its incorporation is an extraordinary event. The winter of 1895 brought a surprise. On February 14–15, the edge of the worst blizzard in American history touched southwestern Louisiana. A record 22 inches (55.9 cm) of snow fell on Lake Charles. Some areas reported snowfall between 18-24 inches. In Vinton, the blizzard crippled the new sheep industry and the farmers salvaged what they could by shaving wool from the dead flocks.
Despite the setback caused by the storm, the town grew steadily, aided by the oil boom following the discovery petroleum reserves in Ged.
Geography
Vinton is located at 30°11′24"N 93°34′50"W (30.190093, -93.580587).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 4.9 square miles (12.7 km²), of which, 4.8 square miles (12.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) of it (2.02%) is water.
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 3,338 people, 1,239 households, and 900 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 688.5 people per square mile (265.7/km²). There were 1,452 housing units at an average density of 299.5 per square mile (115.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 74.57% White, 23.31% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.09% 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 1.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.90% of the population.
There were 1,239 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% 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, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.3% were non-families. 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the town the population was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $26,556, and the median income for a family was $30,565. Males had a median income of $30,600 versus $14,661 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 $13,302. About 18.2% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 17.3% of those age 65 or over.
Notable natives and residents
- Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (blues musician, 1924–2005)
- Theodore "Ted" Lyons (MLB hall of famer, 1900–1986)
- Bobby KimballBobby KimballRobert Troy "Bobby" Kimball is an American singer, best known as the longtime frontman of the rock band Toto.- Early life:...
(Lead Singer of 80's band 'TotoToto (band)Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
') - Marcia BallMarcia BallMarcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana. She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist.....
singer/songwriter