Carencro, Louisiana
Encyclopedia
Carencro[p] is a small city in Lafayette Parish
, Louisiana
, United States
. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Lafayette
. The population was 6,120 at the 2000 census. Its name comes from the Louisiana Creole
word for buzzard
: the spot was one where large flocks of buzzards roosted in the bald cypress trees. The name means "carrion crow."
Carencro is part of the Lafayette
Metropolitan Statistical Area.
. According to this local legend, Native Americans told Vermilionville
settlers that in old times a large number of "carrion crows" (vultures, called carencro in French
) had settled around the Vermilion River
between Lafayette
and Opelousas, Louisiana
to feast on the large carcass of a stranded whale or unusual fish die-off.
There is a related theory, consistent with the spelling, that the place is named for the carencro tête rouge, a red-headed buzzard
referred to by Europe
an explorers as early as 1699, and described in 1774 by Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz
. Du Pratz described the bird as having black plumage and a head covered with red flesh. He said the Spanish
government protected the birds, "for as they do not use the whole carcass of the buffaloes which (the Spaniards) kill, those birds eat what they leave, which otherwise, by rotting on the ground, would ... infect the air."
In a letter written on April 23, 1802, Martin Duralde, a former commandant of the Opelousas post, related the legend as it had come down from an Attakapas Indian. Duralde wrote:
A late 19th century account stated the legend came from buzzards (vultures) feasting on a mastodon
carcass. Its fossilized bones were reportedly discovered and collected by a French
naturalist
in the 18th century and shipped to the Jardin des Plantes
of Paris
, but the ship was wrecked on the way, and the bones were lost at sea. The only relic of the mastodon was a femur or leg bone, which was kept by an early settler, the first Guilbeau. He used it as a pestle to bruise indigo
for processing, a crop then cultivated in the Attakapas Indian country. The Indians termed the birds carecros; and from the spot where the mastodon died, the river takes the name of Bayou Carencro.
First called St. Pierre, in the late 19th century, the town was renamed Carencro, after the "carrion crow" (vulture) legend. Although Carencro's current town center lies well west of the Vermilion River, this legend has permanence within the community.
Some people think that the name comes from the Spanish
carnero, meaning "bone pile." This idea also comes from the mastodon legend, and the idea that the buzzards left nothing but a pile of white bones after they had picked the mastodon clean.
refugees in the 18th century. Some of the Acadians transported in 1765 to the Attakapas district were given lands along Bayou Carencro, although probably not in what is now the town of Carencro. At that time, Jean and Marin Mouton, Charles Peck, Louis Pierre Arceneaux and others began to establish vacheries in the vicinity. More cattlemen would follow after 1770, when Spanish Gov. Alejandro O'Reilly
(English: Alexander O'Reilly) decreed that "a grant of 42 arpent
s [42 arpent] in front by 42 in depth could be issued only to those who owned 100 head of tame cattle, some sheep and horses, and two slaves to oversee them."
In 1769, Juan Kelly and Eduardo Nugent toured the area for the government and reported to O'Reilly that "the inhabitants maintain everything imaginable in the way of livestock, such as cows, horses and sheep." A Frenchman named Lyonnet, visiting in 1793, found thousands of cattle on the Attakapas and Opelousas prairies.
Jean and Marin Mouton were among the early settlers on Bayou Carencro. Other early settlers in the Carencro area were Charles Peck, Traveille Bernard, Rosamond Breaux, Ovignar Arceneaux, and the Babineaux family. An 1803 census of the Carencro area listed family names including Arceneaux, Babineaux, Benoit, Bernard, Breaux, Carmouche, Caruthers, Comeaux, Cormier, Guilbeaux, Hébert, Holway, LeBlanc, Melançon, Mire, Mouton, Pierre, Prejean, Rogers, St. Julien, Savoie, and Thibodeaux.
.
, later from Vermilionville, and then from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
. The parish of St. Peter was established in 1874 and the archdiocese sent Father Andre Marie Guillot as its first pastor. The church was at first called St. Pierre au Carencro, named for Pierre Cormier, who donated land for the first church. Before a church was established at Carencro, services were held in the Carmouche blacksmith shop. Father Guillot died of yellow fever
while serving in Carencro and was buried in the church cemetery.
According to Baudier, "(Father Guillot's) successor was Father J.F Suriray. Trouble with the parishioners arose and Father Suriray was threatened by the people. Some three years after his coming to Carencro, he was obliged to leave. Some time after, the church was destroyed by fire and the parish remained without a pastor until 1883."
A new church was built in 1893, but was destroyed by a tornado before it was ever used. Another church was built, and it burned in 1904. The current church was built in 1906 under the administration of Father F.J. Grimeaux, who served the parish for some 25 years. A plaque outside notes the donation of the land by the Coussan family. A young carpenter named Hector Connolly worked for $2.50 a day to build the 110-foot steeple. Father Grimeaux, in addition to serving as pastor, organized and played clarinet in the Carencro Brass Band.
The Church of the Assumption was completed in 1925 to serve a black congregation. The Holy Ghost Fathers accepted an invitation to direct the parish and sent Father Joseph Dolan as the first pastor. Assumption Church continues to operate today with its original structure still intact and is the only white, wood frame structure of its kind in the Diocese of Lafayette.
Our Lady of the Assumption Religious Complex consists of the church, rectory, school, Drexel Parish Hall (former Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Convent), the church cemetery, and St. Katharine Drexel Shrine. The complex was listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places in November 2001.
. Assumption School was the combination of several black schools in the area. The school was operated with finances from Saint Katharine Drexel. After the 1950s, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament taught at Carencro Catholic School, located at the west end of Church Street. In the early 1980s, Assumption School Combined with St. Pierre School to form Carencro Catholic.
About the turn of the century, Father J.B. Laforet sold three lots to Mother St. Patrick of the Sisters of Mount Carmel, who opened St. Ann's School of Carencro, in 1897.
In 1874, what was probably the first school in Carencro, was opened on the Auguste Melchior farm. Melchior, a Frenchman who had come here from New Orleans, was named director of the Lafayette Parish educational system about 1870. His wife, Viviana, taught at the Carencro school.
In 1889, Carencro had two private schools. Charles Heichelheim, a German, ran a school for boys, and Edmond Villére operated one for both boys and girls. That year, the first public school was built in Carencro, and a second story was added to it 10 years later. The school became an approved high school about 1917.
On September 6, the newspaper gave this account: "The little village of St. Pierre, at Carencro, born only a short time ago, tends to stretch itself in an astonishing fashion with numbers of buildings where all kinds of trades and professions are prospering there. Many beautiful stores, well assorted with that which meets the needs of the inhabitants, are established there since a short time ago and we note, among others, the fine establishment of Mr. Ignace Bernard near the church."
By 1889, Carencro had two sugar factories, one operated by J.C. Couvillon, and another run by I. Singleton. In 1894, Victor E. Dupuis, one of the larger cane growers of the area, formed the Carencro Sugar Company to build another sugar mill alongside Morgan's Railroad. The sugar mills in the area closed about 1900.
There were several horse-powered cotton gins in Carencro before 1876, but, in that year, Avignac Arceneaux built the first steam-powered gin in the parish. Four more gins went up there in the late 1880s and in the 1890s. In 1889, 1,800 bales of cotton were shipped from the Carencro Station. Cotton gins continued to operate in Carencro until the middle 1970s, when the last two, Cotton Products Co. and Farmer's Gin Co., were closed.
. Nearly 100 years later, the enterprise closed during a regional economic recession in 1985.
In 1891, historian William Henry Perrin suggested that "there is no prettier site for a town (than Carencro) nor one with more solid advantages than comprised in this place. "
Carencro notables such as former postmaster William J. Broussard and former lumberyard owner Oliver Richard are buried in this cemetery. Carencro's cemetery is above ground, unlike low-lying areas to the east in the Atchafalaya Basin
and areas below Baton Rouge, which eschew the ground-level graves of Lafayette (as well as points west and north) for mausoleums.
The City Hall and Fire Station, designed by local architect Lynn Guidry, is a modern counterpoint to the traditional Catholic church, and can be seen at the southern turn of Church Street east of U.S. 182.
is a native of the town and titled his major label debut album Carencro after it. Carencro is also famous as the birthplace of Rockin' Dopsie
. A few miles south of Sunset
and Opelousas Louisiana, Carencro is a noted stop off point for Zydeco musicians. NFL running back for the New England Patriots Kevin Faulk
maintains a residence in his home town Carencro.
Carencro businessman Bobby Badon
, the Louisiana State Legislature|state representative]] from District 39, is not a candidate for reelection in 2011.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 6,120 people, 2,237 households, and 1,579 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1005.9 people per square mile (388.6/km²). There were 2,401 housing units at an average density of 394.6 per square mile (152.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.37% White, 42.19% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.25% from other races
, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population.
English
was spoken by 74.33% of the population while French
was spoken by 24.83% of the population.
There were 2,237 households out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were married couples
living together, 21.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $22,716, and the median income for a family was $27,539. Males had a median income of $27,879 versus $21,496 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $11,491. About 24.1% of families and 29.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.6% of those under age 18 and 27.1% of those age 65 or over.
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Lafayette Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lafayette. According to the 2010 Census, its population was recorded as 221,578....
, 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...
. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
. The population was 6,120 at the 2000 census. Its name comes from the Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole French
Louisiana Creole is a French Creole language spoken by the Louisiana Creole people of the state of Louisiana. The language consists of elements of French, Spanish, African, and Native American roots.-Geography:...
word for buzzard
Buzzard
A buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....
: the spot was one where large flocks of buzzards roosted in the bald cypress trees. The name means "carrion crow."
Carencro is part of the Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Etymology
Many senior Carencro natives attest that the town's name originates from before the American Civil WarAmerican 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...
. According to this local legend, Native Americans told Vermilionville
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
settlers that in old times a large number of "carrion crows" (vultures, called carencro in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) had settled around the Vermilion River
Vermilion River (Louisiana)
The Vermilion River is a river in southern Louisiana in the United States. It is formed on the common boundary of Lafayette and St. Martin parishes by a confluence of small bayous flowing from St. Landry Parish, and flows generally southward through Lafayette and Vermilion parishes, past the...
between Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
and Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
to feast on the large carcass of a stranded whale or unusual fish die-off.
There is a related theory, consistent with the spelling, that the place is named for the carencro tête rouge, a red-headed buzzard
Buzzard
A buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....
referred to by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an explorers as early as 1699, and described in 1774 by Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz
Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz
Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz was an ethnographer, historian, and naturalist who is best known for his Histoire de la Louisiane. It was first published in installments from 1751-1753 in the Journal Economique, then completely in three volumes in Paris in 1758. After their victory in the Seven...
. Du Pratz described the bird as having black plumage and a head covered with red flesh. He said the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
government protected the birds, "for as they do not use the whole carcass of the buffaloes which (the Spaniards) kill, those birds eat what they leave, which otherwise, by rotting on the ground, would ... infect the air."
In a letter written on April 23, 1802, Martin Duralde, a former commandant of the Opelousas post, related the legend as it had come down from an Attakapas Indian. Duralde wrote:
"Many years before the discovery of the elephant in the bayou called an Attakapas savage had informed a man who is at present in my service in the capacity of cow-herd that the ancestors of his nation transmitted (the story) to their descendants that a beast of enormous size had perished either in this bayou or in one of the two water courses a short distance from it without their being able to indicate the true place, the antiquity of the event having without doubt made them forget it."(Note: The mastodon became extinct 4500-10,000 years ago, in part because of overhunting by American Indians.)
A late 19th century account stated the legend came from buzzards (vultures) feasting on a mastodon
Mastodon
Mastodons were large tusked mammal species of the extinct genus Mammut which inhabited Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Central America from the Oligocene through Pleistocene, 33.9 mya to 11,000 years ago. The American mastodon is the most recent and best known species of the group...
carcass. Its fossilized bones were reportedly discovered and collected by a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
in the 18th century and shipped to the Jardin des Plantes
Jardin des Plantes
The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...
of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but the ship was wrecked on the way, and the bones were lost at sea. The only relic of the mastodon was a femur or leg bone, which was kept by an early settler, the first Guilbeau. He used it as a pestle to bruise indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
for processing, a crop then cultivated in the Attakapas Indian country. The Indians termed the birds carecros; and from the spot where the mastodon died, the river takes the name of Bayou Carencro.
First called St. Pierre, in the late 19th century, the town was renamed Carencro, after the "carrion crow" (vulture) legend. Although Carencro's current town center lies well west of the Vermilion River, this legend has permanence within the community.
Some people think that the name comes from the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
carnero, meaning "bone pile." This idea also comes from the mastodon legend, and the idea that the buzzards left nothing but a pile of white bones after they had picked the mastodon clean.
Early settlement
Few European people settled in the Carencro area (around Lafayette) until the coming of the AcadianAcadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
refugees in the 18th century. Some of the Acadians transported in 1765 to the Attakapas district were given lands along Bayou Carencro, although probably not in what is now the town of Carencro. At that time, Jean and Marin Mouton, Charles Peck, Louis Pierre Arceneaux and others began to establish vacheries in the vicinity. More cattlemen would follow after 1770, when Spanish Gov. Alejandro O'Reilly
Alejandro O'Reilly
Alejandro O'Reilly , was a military reformer and Inspector-General of Infantry for the Spanish Empire in the second half of the 18th century...
(English: Alexander O'Reilly) decreed that "a grant of 42 arpent
Arpent
An arpent is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-metric French unit based on the Roman actus. It is used in Quebec as well as in some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana.-Unit of length:...
s [42 arpent] in front by 42 in depth could be issued only to those who owned 100 head of tame cattle, some sheep and horses, and two slaves to oversee them."
In 1769, Juan Kelly and Eduardo Nugent toured the area for the government and reported to O'Reilly that "the inhabitants maintain everything imaginable in the way of livestock, such as cows, horses and sheep." A Frenchman named Lyonnet, visiting in 1793, found thousands of cattle on the Attakapas and Opelousas prairies.
Jean and Marin Mouton were among the early settlers on Bayou Carencro. Other early settlers in the Carencro area were Charles Peck, Traveille Bernard, Rosamond Breaux, Ovignar Arceneaux, and the Babineaux family. An 1803 census of the Carencro area listed family names including Arceneaux, Babineaux, Benoit, Bernard, Breaux, Carmouche, Caruthers, Comeaux, Cormier, Guilbeaux, Hébert, Holway, LeBlanc, Melançon, Mire, Mouton, Pierre, Prejean, Rogers, St. Julien, Savoie, and Thibodeaux.
First post office
The first post office in Carencro was established on January 11, 1872, with Auguste Melchior as postmaster. The telegraph line reached there in 1884. The first telephones were installed by the Teche and Vermilion Telephone Line in 1894. The company was headquartered in New Iberia, LouisianaNew Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia is a city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, 30 miles southeast of Lafayette. In 1900, 6,815 people lived in New Iberia; in 1910, 7,499; and in 1940, 13,747...
.
Historic churches
According to Roger Baudier's history of the Catholic Church of Louisiana, the Carencro area was first served from Grand Coteau, LouisianaGrand Coteau, Louisiana
Grand Coteau is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,040 at the 2000 census. Grand Coteau is on Interstate 49 south of Opelousas and is part of the Opelousas–Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area. The town is a center for local farming...
, later from Vermilionville, and then from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
Breaux Bridge is a city in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population is 8,139 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. The parish of St. Peter was established in 1874 and the archdiocese sent Father Andre Marie Guillot as its first pastor. The church was at first called St. Pierre au Carencro, named for Pierre Cormier, who donated land for the first church. Before a church was established at Carencro, services were held in the Carmouche blacksmith shop. Father Guillot died of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
while serving in Carencro and was buried in the church cemetery.
According to Baudier, "(Father Guillot's) successor was Father J.F Suriray. Trouble with the parishioners arose and Father Suriray was threatened by the people. Some three years after his coming to Carencro, he was obliged to leave. Some time after, the church was destroyed by fire and the parish remained without a pastor until 1883."
A new church was built in 1893, but was destroyed by a tornado before it was ever used. Another church was built, and it burned in 1904. The current church was built in 1906 under the administration of Father F.J. Grimeaux, who served the parish for some 25 years. A plaque outside notes the donation of the land by the Coussan family. A young carpenter named Hector Connolly worked for $2.50 a day to build the 110-foot steeple. Father Grimeaux, in addition to serving as pastor, organized and played clarinet in the Carencro Brass Band.
The Church of the Assumption was completed in 1925 to serve a black congregation. The Holy Ghost Fathers accepted an invitation to direct the parish and sent Father Joseph Dolan as the first pastor. Assumption Church continues to operate today with its original structure still intact and is the only white, wood frame structure of its kind in the Diocese of Lafayette.
Our Lady of the Assumption Religious Complex consists of the church, rectory, school, Drexel Parish Hall (former Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Convent), the church cemetery, and St. Katharine Drexel Shrine. The complex was listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places in November 2001.
Historic schools
Assumption School was built in 1932 and was staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed SacramentSisters of the Blessed Sacrament
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament was founded in 1891 by Saint Katharine Drexel. Originally called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, the religious order is commonly known today as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.-History:The Third Plenary Council of...
. Assumption School was the combination of several black schools in the area. The school was operated with finances from Saint Katharine Drexel. After the 1950s, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament taught at Carencro Catholic School, located at the west end of Church Street. In the early 1980s, Assumption School Combined with St. Pierre School to form Carencro Catholic.
About the turn of the century, Father J.B. Laforet sold three lots to Mother St. Patrick of the Sisters of Mount Carmel, who opened St. Ann's School of Carencro, in 1897.
In 1874, what was probably the first school in Carencro, was opened on the Auguste Melchior farm. Melchior, a Frenchman who had come here from New Orleans, was named director of the Lafayette Parish educational system about 1870. His wife, Viviana, taught at the Carencro school.
In 1889, Carencro had two private schools. Charles Heichelheim, a German, ran a school for boys, and Edmond Villére operated one for both boys and girls. That year, the first public school was built in Carencro, and a second story was added to it 10 years later. The school became an approved high school about 1917.
Economic prosperity
The Opelousas Courier reported on the young settlement at least twice during the year 1879. The April 19 edition stated, "This little village is rapidly expanding. ... The grounds of the church have been planted in trees and enclosed with a fence of a new kind. This enclosure is of iron wire and armed with steel barbs, forming a barrier inaccessible to animals."On September 6, the newspaper gave this account: "The little village of St. Pierre, at Carencro, born only a short time ago, tends to stretch itself in an astonishing fashion with numbers of buildings where all kinds of trades and professions are prospering there. Many beautiful stores, well assorted with that which meets the needs of the inhabitants, are established there since a short time ago and we note, among others, the fine establishment of Mr. Ignace Bernard near the church."
By 1889, Carencro had two sugar factories, one operated by J.C. Couvillon, and another run by I. Singleton. In 1894, Victor E. Dupuis, one of the larger cane growers of the area, formed the Carencro Sugar Company to build another sugar mill alongside Morgan's Railroad. The sugar mills in the area closed about 1900.
There were several horse-powered cotton gins in Carencro before 1876, but, in that year, Avignac Arceneaux built the first steam-powered gin in the parish. Four more gins went up there in the late 1880s and in the 1890s. In 1889, 1,800 bales of cotton were shipped from the Carencro Station. Cotton gins continued to operate in Carencro until the middle 1970s, when the last two, Cotton Products Co. and Farmer's Gin Co., were closed.
Merchants and plantation owners
Among leading merchants in the 1890s were the Brown Brothers, Jacob Mitchell, D. Daret, A.G. Guilbeau, G. Schmuler, C. Micou, and J.C. Martin. People owning large plantations near the town were Mrs. Z. Broussard, Dr. R.J. Francez, Mrs. O.C. Mouton, Louis Roger, Mrs. F. Abadie, C.C. Brown, St. Clair Kilchrist, V.C. Dupuis. and L.J. Arceneaux. Entrepreneur Charles J. Richard opened the town's lumberyard along the Southern Pacific RailroadSouthern 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....
. Nearly 100 years later, the enterprise closed during a regional economic recession in 1985.
In 1891, historian William Henry Perrin suggested that "there is no prettier site for a town (than Carencro) nor one with more solid advantages than comprised in this place. "
Modern
Carencro's St. Peter's Catholic Church and cemetery form an artistic centerpiece of the town. St. Peter's Catholic Church has an ornate cypress-carved entrance, altar and narthex, as well as intricate pew end caps. The pews were once sold to parishioners to raise money for the church. These unique end caps were designed by Catholic Frs. Wassler and Edwards. (Both deceased)Carencro notables such as former postmaster William J. Broussard and former lumberyard owner Oliver Richard are buried in this cemetery. Carencro's cemetery is above ground, unlike low-lying areas to the east in the Atchafalaya Basin
Atchafalaya Basin
The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The river stretches from near Simmesport in the north...
and areas below Baton Rouge, which eschew the ground-level graves of Lafayette (as well as points west and north) for mausoleums.
The City Hall and Fire Station, designed by local architect Lynn Guidry, is a modern counterpoint to the traditional Catholic church, and can be seen at the southern turn of Church Street east of U.S. 182.
Notable people
Musician Marc BroussardMarc Broussard
Marc Broussard is an American singer/songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul," a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots...
is a native of the town and titled his major label debut album Carencro after it. Carencro is also famous as the birthplace of Rockin' Dopsie
Rockin' Dopsie
Rockin' Dopsie was born Alton Rubin in Carencro, Louisiana. He was a leading Zydeco musician and button accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States...
. A few miles south of Sunset
Sunset, Louisiana
Sunset is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,897 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Opelousas–Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Sunset is located at ....
and Opelousas Louisiana, Carencro is a noted stop off point for Zydeco musicians. NFL running back for the New England Patriots Kevin Faulk
Kevin Faulk
Kevin Troy Faulk is an American football running back for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at LSU.As of 2010, Faulk is the longest-tenured current member of the Patriots,...
maintains a residence in his home town Carencro.
Carencro businessman Bobby Badon
Bobby Badon
Bobby Gene Badon is a farmer and businessman from Carencro, Louisiana, who is a departing one-term Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 39 . In 2012, the St. Martin Parish precincts will be removed from District 39.Badon graduated in 1968 from Northside High...
, the Louisiana State Legislature|state representative]] from District 39, is not a candidate for reelection in 2011.
Geography
Carencro is located at 30°18′51"N 92°2′37"W (30.314232, -92.043614) and has an elevation of 39 feet (11.9 m).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 city has a total area of 6.1 square miles (15.8 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 6,120 people, 2,237 households, and 1,579 families residing in the city. 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 1005.9 people per square mile (388.6/km²). There were 2,401 housing units at an average density of 394.6 per square mile (152.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.37% White, 42.19% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.25% 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 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population.
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
was spoken by 74.33% of the population while French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
was spoken by 24.83% of the population.
There were 2,237 households out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% 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, 21.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $22,716, and the median income for a family was $27,539. Males had a median income of $27,879 versus $21,496 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 city was $11,491. About 24.1% of families and 29.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.6% of those under age 18 and 27.1% of those age 65 or over.