All Stories: 182
Stories
Sort by:
Site 3: The Bend in the River: A Post Civil War Labor Strike Unifying Black and White Workers on the Docks: Race and Unity on the Crescent
The port is, and was, the lifeblood of New Orleans. However, much has changed over the years. Sailors no longer dock steamboats, brigantines, and keelboats along the quay. Instead, container ships,…
Site 10: Fort Proctor — The Screwmen's Guard: The Screwmen and the Civil War
Fort Proctor looms on the horizon, like a castle rising from the choppy waters of Lake Borgne.
Beyond Hammers and Nails: The Long Legacy of Theo. Daigle & Bros. Hardware Store: Supplying Church Point with the tools to build a town, 114 years and counting.
The Daigle family operated dozens of businesses in Church Point and the surrounding rural areas for decades. Ranging from banks, grocery stores, cotton gins, department stores, and lumber and power…
Greig's West Main Grocery: Greig's little store was a gatekeeper of the growing city of New Iberia for nearly 50 years.
The buzzer sounded on the kitchen door, notifying Raymond August Greig that someone had entered his store. The kitchen door opened into the small, connected building on West Main Street in New Iberia.…
Generations of Banking in the Heart of Acadiana: The Bank of Abbeville and Trust Company
The Bank of Abbeville and Trust Company has stood the test of time. For over a century, it has served the banking needs of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana residents. Since its establishment in 1894, the…
Keeping Acadiana Beefed Up, The Story of Prejean's Wholesale Meats
It is no secret that in Acadiana, meat is everywhere. Every true Cajun/Creole loves filling their stomach with rice and gravy, fricassee, gumbo, or any other stew. This is thanks in part to…
Chocolate Soldier Chronicles: From Church Point to Hanley's Bottling Works: Supplying Church Point with delicious refreshments, from 1906 to 1978.
The turn of the century's railroad industry supported the creation and operation of the tiny Church Point Bottling Works by Church Point natives Alcee Sonnier and Pierre Guidry. By the 1950s, the son…
A Survey of Success: The Fenstermaker Story
C. H. Fenstermaker & Associates, L.L.C., started in the back bedroom of Charles Howard Fenstermaker's family home at 317 Allen Street, New Iberia.
The Veranda Hotel's Journey Through Fires, Violence, and Modernization: The Evolution of Abbeville's Historic Landmark
Born from a courthouse construction project in 1845, the Veranda Hotel evolved into a bustling hub for traveling professionals during the nineteenth century. The hotel embodied growth and development…
Lifetimes of Lumber: The Story of St. Landry Lumber Co.
St. Landry Lumber Co. is one of the oldest businesses in the Opelousas area. The oldest transactions can be dated to the 1890s. The story of its early owners quickly grows murky though, as the…
Rich History at the Royal Tavern: Twenty years of Roy Gathe's legacy, the Royal Tavern
Nightlife in Acadiana was especially dynamic and rich with complicated history. Many dancehalls, prior to the 1960s, were segregated or even white only, though one particular dancehall that opened…
Forging A Legacy: The Enduring Spirit of Sam Guarino & Son Inc.
Sam Guarino & Son Inc., a cornerstone of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, is a testament to Sicilian craftsmanship and dedication. Founded over a century ago by Sicilian immigrant Salvadore “Sam”…
From Wrought to Rot: The Story of J.B. Sandoz
In the early 1870s, a Quebec-born blacksmith named Joseph Jobin took on an apprentice in Opelousas, Louisiana. The apprentice's name was Jacques B. Sandoz. In 1877, Jobin passed away and left his…
Deep Roots and Sweet Cane: Exploring the Tradition and Resilience of Domingues Farms
Sugar cane farming is a tradition and economic cornerstone in the fertile land of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. Domingues Farms, with roots dating back to 1918, embodies its founder's legacy with…
A Lost Paradise: Rousseau's Catahoula Inn: The Tragic Story of a Forgotten Getaway
Deep in the bayous of Louisiana once stood Rousseau’s Catahoula Inn. Shaded by majestic oak trees and with the sound of cicadas humming in the background, it was a picturesque respite for young and…
Peddler to Pioneer: A Slovakian Immigrant's Journey to Church Point Wholesale: Supplying Church Point and the South with almost anything, 112 years and counting.
After four generations of Horeckys and going on two of Gielens, this company remains one of the largest wholesale distributors in the South, located in the tiny town of Church Point. "At Church Point…
Against The Grain: The Endurance Of The Conrad Rice Mill: The 112-year-old Conrad Rice Mill is the oldest operating rice mill in America.
The Conrad Rice Mill is a story of success and resilience, steered by competent and astute businessmen from Philip Conrad to Mike Davis.
Grit and Tin: Cajun Sharecroppers and the Prairie Hayes Cotton Gin: Supplying rural farmers with the means to gin their cotton from the 1930s until the 1970s.
For over 200 years, Cajuns in rural Acadiana cultivated coton jaune, an heirloom variety of cotton brown or beige in color, on a domestic scale for clothing and bedding. Blankets and sheets were…
Slim's Y-Ki-Ki: Zydeco's Highs and Lows in Opelousas
Once the heart of Opelousas nightlife, learn about the highs and lows of zydeco's favorite dancehall, Slim's Y-Ki-Ki and the club it used to be!
Setting Sights on the Rice
A rich history of film entertainment, community, tragedy, and rebirth at Crowley's longest operating theater, The Rice Theater
The Show Must Go On: The Story of the Grand Opera House of the South
In the year 1901, David E. Lyons built a theatre in downtown Crowley. It is estimated that the entire 33,000 square foot building priced out at approximately 18,000 dollars. The original name for…
Give Me Liberty: A brief history of the historic Liberty Theatre in downtown Eunice
Through fire and storm, the Liberty Theatre stands as an historic example of entertainment and community for the people of Eunice
Blue Dogs and Bayous: The George Rodrigue Memorial Overpass: US Highway 90 and LA Highway 83 Intersection
Louisiana Memorial Highway no. 135 is known as the George Rodrigue Memorial Overpass. The overpass located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Louisiana Highway 83, just north of the outskirts…
Clarence “GateMouth” Brown Memorial Highway: The Story from Birth to Blues
A man meant for music who sent genres colliding into one another leading to a combination no one could've seen coming.
The Creole Cowboy of Pied des Chiens: Wilson Anthony 'Boozoo' Chavis Memorial Highway: Louisiana Highway 385
Louisiana Memorial Highway number 103 is known as the Wilson Anthony 'Boozoo' Chavis Memorial Highway. The highway runs south of Lake Charles towards Cameron Parish, east of Calcasieu Lake. It was…
Seven Oaks Boulevard: A History Lost to Greed
Seven Oaks Boulevard was named after the plantation that once sat along its route. From the beginning of the Louisiana colony to the First World War, this stately piece of land was home to many…
“The Place Where Everybody Is Somebody”: State Representative Pinkie Wilkerson Memorial Interchange: I-20 & LA 149 interchange in Grambling, Louisiana
Louisiana Memorial Highway 148 is named the State Representative Pinkie Wilkerson Memorial Interchange. The small connection located at the intersection of Interstate 20 and Louisiana Highway 149,…
The Larose Link: An Underrated Connection
In October of 1961, the small town of Larose was met with an unusual kind of festivity. Jimmie Davis, a country-gospel singer turned Governor of Louisiana sang the popular songs "You Are My Sunshine"…
John James Audubon Memorial Bridge: A Bridge of the Birds
John James Audubon was an influential figure in American ornithology, wildlife art, and natural science during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. However, even for his time, he was a…
Pyook: A Nickname for Legacy
Born on June 26, 1960, Albert Berard grew up in South Louisiana listening to Cajun music and had sought to follow in the footsteps of his culture at a young age. By eleven years old, Berard had begun…