Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, January 27, 1998

Milton named for son of prominent early citizen

Location on river helped town grow

by Jim Bradshaw

Milton sits on the banks of the Vermilion River where it forms the boundary between Lafayette and Vermilion parishes. Most of the community is in Lafayette Parish.

The date that the village of Milton was first settled is not known. Old land claims show that much of the town is on land once owned by Bernard, son of Ashnoya, a chief of the Attakapas Indians. With the coming of the white man, it served as a river crossing and a trade center for owners of farms and cattle ranches that lined both sides of the river.

The earliest settlers were Acadian families. Early landowners in the area included Francois Broussard, son of Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, Jean Bernard, Pierre Vincent, Michel Meaux, Jean-Baptiste Trahan, Joseph Boudreaux, and other Acadian families. Jean-Jacques Denais operated a ferry at the townsite in the early 1800s. Désiré Broussard and Jean-Baptiste Montet had settled there by 1823.

A large tract of land on the east bank of the river, including the present site of the town of Milton, was certified by the U.S. government to Anselm Thibodeaux, who had settled on the land and cultivated it for at least 20 years prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Anselm's Coulee, named for him, runs through the area.

A tract of some 200 arpents of land near Milton belonged to Eloi Broussard at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. He was the grandson of Beausoleil Broussard. Eloi's descendants established themselves on the Vermilion River where Darmas Broussard owned and operated a store during the steamboat era. Darmas also operated a ferry across the river there and built a two-story home on the east side of the river in the late 1880s. The home stands at the bridge there today.

According to The Story of Milton by Robert Prejean, "Odilon Broussard ... owned a general merchandise store located on the west side of (the) Vermilion River not far from the Broussard Crossing (later known as the Milton Crossing). He bought the products of the farmers from the surrounding area, which consisted of cattle, hides, cotton, corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, syrup, and rice. He, in turn, sold them farm equipment, household goods, clothing and other needs for their homes and farms.

"His store also served as the center of information. There were no newspapers, or radio or TV stations. News at the time was related to one another by word of mouth along the rails, roads and bayous. On Bayou Vermilion, boats and ships brought the merchandise and news from Paris, New York, New Orleans, Galveston and.... (Morgan City) to the boat stops on the Vermilion, which were: Campbell's Ferry, Bancker Store, Ramsey's Plantation, Rosehill Refinery, Perry, LaChapelle (Abbeville), Darmas Broussard's store, and Pinhook (Vermilionville).

"Eugenie Duhon clerked in her uncle's store and therefore had first-hand knowledge of the happenings of the day," Prejean writes. "One person who impressed her the most was Dr. Raphael Sagrera ... who was clerk-druggist on the steamship Exchange owned by Solomon Wise. He would relate the news to Eugenie and she in turn transmitted it to others. She was a great talker and comedienne and paid frequent visits to her children and relatives.

"The Exchange and many other steamboats brought the merchandise from Morgan City to ports in Louisiana and Texas until about 1880. After that date steamboats transported sugar cane to Rosehill and Vermilion refineries until 1930."

According to Prejean's account, Désiré Broussard, brother of Odilon, operated a saloon just across the road from the general merchandise store. The Broussard home served as a boarding house or hotel.

A ferry was operating at the Milton site probably as early as 1820. At the Dec. 14, 1897 meeting of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, it was suggested that a bridge be built across the river there. That bridge was dedicated on Feb. 2, 1902. The present bridge was built in 1948.

The telegraph line passed through the area in 1875.

In 1885, Dr. Milton R. Cushman came to the area to practice medicine. For a short while he boarded in the Désiré Broussard home and later built a home on the Maurice Road. Dr. Cushman petitioned for a post office at the place and became the first postmaster there. The mail was left at his medical office.

When postal officials asked for a name for the place, Dr. Cushman's wife decided upon Milton, the name of her husband and of her son, Milton S. Cushman, who was born in 1890.

Later, the post office was moved to the bridge crossing in front of Odilon Broussard's store. According to Prejean's history, the post office consisted of a large cypress box.

"The author recalls," Prejean wrote, "that Joseph Bell, a black citizen of Milton, left Milton at 7:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in a buggy pulled by a horse named Roane, drove to Youngsville and picked up mail there, drove from that point to Lafayette and picked up mail, and returned to Milton by way of Maurice. Upon his arrival at 4:00 p.m. (many times he was late, depending on weather conditions and the season of the year) Eugenie Duhon Prejean, clerk in the Broussard store, would distribute mail to the people whom would be waiting and would put the undelivered mail in the box until the next day."