a LAFAYETTE 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, January 27, 1998

Scott was superintendent of Southern Pacific RR

by Jim Bradshaw

Scott was named for J.B. Scott, who was at one time division superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. One of the earliest inhabitants of the town of Scott was Dominic Cayret, who was a friend of J.B. Scott's. Cayret donated the land for the railroad right of way on the condition that the depot would be built on Cayret's land.

Scott's identifying slogan, "Where the West begins," originated from railroad timetables that listed Scott as the "origin of western travel."

The first settler in what is now Scott was Alexander Delhomme. He built and operated a grist mill and cotton gin there. The day the first rails for the track arrived, Alcide Judice opened a small grocery store near the right of way.

According to a history written for Sts. Peter and Paul Church at Scott, Judice has been called "father of public education in Lafayette Parish" because "he conceived the idea of transportation of children to school in wagons and horse-driven transfers."

Other leading merchants in Scott in the 1880s were Jules Gendry, Marcel Sonnier, and Martin Begnaud. Planters in the area were A.D. Boudreaux, L.G. Breaux, Robert Thomas, Nathaniel Foreman, Ambroise Chiasson, Severin Duhon, N.M. Dugal, and Hugh Hutchinson. Luke LeBlanc established the LeBlanc Lumber Co. there about 1906. He was a police juror for many years and served on the drainage system board.

Historian William Henry Perrin wrote in 1891 that "This is exclusively a railroad town, having sprung into existence since the building of the railroad. It is, however, a vigorous youngster with a promising future. ... The land around Scott is all susceptible of cultivation and it is highly fertile. Shipments from this point consist of rice, corn, wool, chickens, eggs, etc. ... Looking out from Scott in any direction the eye will be greeted by lovely groves of shade trees, consisting of oak and China trees. About a mile south of this place is Isle Navarre, a grove of live, oaks of stately proportions and venerable in appearance, unsurpassed in the South, excepting perhaps those of the Exposition grounds at New Orleans. The most disconsolate people around this thriving place are the doctors, who have literally nothing to do, it is so exceedingly healthy."

The first, one-room public school at Scott was built in 1895. Scott was incorporated in 1904.

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).