an ACADIA PARISH article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School - 721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA  70507)

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997

Iota was first called Cartville

by Jim Bradshaw

Construction of the Southern Pacific branch line from Midland to Eunice created some new place names in Acadia Parish. At a point about two miles east of Pointe-aux- Loups Springs, the railroad angled off to the northeast toward Eunice, and a new railroad station was christened Iota. Until that time the post office, established on Feb. 6, 1884, had been known as Cartville, and was located in the Samuel Cart store. After the railroad came through, the post office was moved about a half mile to a general store run by George Wright and Joe Sabatier. The post office name was changed to Iota on May 1, 1900.

Two of early St. Landry's best-known political figures were Acadia Parish landowners. They were Louis Louallier and George King, whose adjacent tracts of land were located about three miles northeast of Iota.

Louallier, a native of France, was a member of the first police jury of St. Landry in 1811. He was a member of the Louisiana Legislature under governor W.C.C. Claiborne, Louisiana's first American governor, and was termed "a most efficient member." After the Battle of New Orleans, Louallier published an open letter in the Courier de la Louisiane objecting to General Andrew Jackson's orders which directed all Frenchmen in New Orleans to leave the city within three days. Because of the letter, Louallier was arrested and jailed as a spy.

George King, born in Virginia in 1769, was kin to William Rufus King, who was elected Vice President of the United States in 1852. George King came to the Opelousas district in 1805 as the first territorial clerk of court. In 1806, Gov. Claiborne appointed him the first St. Landry Parish judge, a position he hold until 1842. He died at his home in Opelousas.

C.C. (Curley) Duson is credited with being the founder of Iota. Beginning in 1894, he promoted the construction of the Southern Pacific line to Eunice, the new town he had founded in St. Landry Parish. At the same time, he bought land where Iota now stands. Duson divided the land into town lots and sold them.

Duson was also the prime mover in establishing the Acadia Canal Co. in the vicinity of Iota and was president of a rice mill built at Iota in 1901.

Just after the turn of the century, Iota had an estimated population of 300 and a dozen business firms in operation, including general merchandise stores, a lumber yard, blacksmiths, feed and grain suppliers, a doctor's office, a drug store,. and a saloon.

William J. Young opened a hotel at Iota in 1901, but it burned that same year. The Iota Weekly Times began publishing in 1902, but lasted only about a year.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).