a ST. LANDRY 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, September 30, 1997

Leonville named for St . Leon

by Jim Bradshaw

Leonville began as a settlement of free men of color, the principal families being the Lemelles, the Auzennes, Rideaux, and the Frilots. As the village of Leonville grew on the bayou, the settlements of the gens de couleur libres were either incorporated or resettled , and Leonville became a quiet little bayou town .

The village obtained its name from the Catholic church, named for St. Leon by the first pastor, Father Leon Mailluchet. He built the first church in 1898. At the time, Leonville was a mission church of Port Barre.

The second pastor, Father Eugene Livorel, came to Leonville in 1907 and remained until 1916. He built the second church and remodeled the first church into a rectory. Upper windows in the attic are still paneled with stained glass from the days when the house was a church .

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).