| Crowley,
Louisiana |
Prior
to 1880, the area of south Louisiana that now encompasses Crowley
was prairie land. When the Louisiana Western Railroad completed
its railroad link between Houston and New Orleans in June, 1881,
Opelousas businessman W.W. Duson saw the potential for land
he owned in this area and soon fostered a town he named after
Louisiana Western Railroad master Patrick Crowley. The Southwestern
Louisiana Land Company was formed to buy more land in the area,
acquiring 174 acres along the railroad for $80.
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Crowley in a photo from 1918
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Once
the land was purchased, Leon V. Fremeaux drafted a one-square
mile town plan. It was defined by the bounding Northern, Eastern
and Western Avenues and the railroad line to the south. Two
major roads, Parkerson Avenue (named for the railroad's general
manager) and Hutchison Avenue, went through the center of town
and intersected at the courthouse for Acadia Parish. |
| The
new town was aggressively advertised and citizes began arriving
from throughout the U.S. The vital railroad brought in whole
buildings even as new buildings were being built, and by 1888,
Crowley had a post office, a hotel, a school, churches and a
newspaper. |
Flood of 1940
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Crowley
is located in south central Louisiana, about 20 miles west of
Lafayette and 120 miles west of New Orleans. This is Cajun country,
so called for the the French Canadian Acadians who migrated
to French-speaking south Louisiana after being expelled from
Nova Scotia by the British in 1755. Crowley is a lively mix
of those French influences, a 19th century German immigration,
African ancestry and other cutlural influences that make south
Louisiana an exciting place to visit or live. |
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