On June 15, 1908, the Legislature voted unanimously to carve Evangeline Parish out of northern St. Landry Parish, though that was not the end of the Acadiana parish’s origin story. 

The entire area that became Evangeline Parish was once a “vacherie,” or grazing land for cattle, for early French and Spanish settlers that extended all the way to the Sabine River. Huge roundups were held yearly on this vast open range. 

But as settlers homesteaded the area, small towns began to spring up. The old Spanish Trail from Louisiana to Texas wound its way through the vacherie, and traces of this ancient road may still be seen off Highway 167 and in the Chicot State Park area.

Following the Legislature’s move the previous year, an election was held in 1909. Voters overwhelmingly approved creating the new parish and chose Ville Platte as the parish seat.

Ville Platte means “Flat Town” in French, and was so named because it was the first settlement on level land that stagecoach passengers reached when traveling south from the hills of north Louisiana. The parish was named for the heroine in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem.

But taxpayers who lived in the area that was not included in the new parish sued, claiming the law was unconstitutional because it didn’t allow for new members of the Legislature. The case made its way to the state Supreme Court, which sided with the plaintiffs. 

A second suit challenged the election itself, arguing it should not be considered valid since the law purporting to create the parish was unconstitutional. This time, the Supreme Court determined the election was valid because it was held in good faith. 

In 1910 another law made its way through the legislature that took these issues into consideration and officially re-created Evangeline Parish. The new law moved the parish line to the north, allowing Eunice, still hurt from not being chosen as the parish seat, to remain in St. Landry Parish.

Editor’s note: This piece is primarily based on information from the LSU AgCenter and UL-Lafayette. 

This piece first ran in the June 13, 2024 edition of LaPolitics Weekly. Wish you could have read it then? Subscribe today!