Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, September 30, 1997

Washington home to historic buildings

by Jim Bradshaw

Washington was once the most important steamboat port between New Orleans and St. Louis. For nearly 70 years, between 1832 and 1900, passengers heading for the American West disembarked there to climb onto Wells Fargo stage coaches for the rest of the journey.

The syrup, molasses, lumber, and cotton industries along the banks of Bayou Beouf and Bayou Courtableau formed the basis for an export trade, and steamboats from New Orleans brought everything from fresh fruit to fine silks for the community. The area in which Washington is located was originally granted to Jacques Courtableau.

The first St. Landry Church was completed at Washington in 1777. The place was then called "Church's Landing" and the church itself was the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

The site for the church had been designated by Gov. Luis de Unzaga in 1774, when Antoine Mallet was ordered to build a bridge that would let the builders haul the lumber for the building across Bayou Courtableau. After the erection of La lglesia Paroquial de Immaculada Conception del Puesto de Opelousas, what is the present town of Washington began to be settled .

Courtableau deeded the site of the town to Louis Buhot, "guardian of the Church," and wardens of the Catholic Church began to sell one apartment lots at the town site.

Because Bayou Courtableau was navigable south to New Orleans and by flatboat to north Louisiana, the town rapidly became a center for commerce and transportation .

The "Opelousas" was probably the first steamboat to dock there in 1832. As early as 1815, goods from the area had been sent by keel boat through a network of waterways to New Orleans, establishing the routes that the steamboats would follow.

Washington was a thriving town by the time it received its charter on March 31, 1895. By the early 1800s, Washington was a "steamboat town," and most of its citizens were engaged in pursuits connected in one way or another with water transportation.

David Jasper McNicoll remembered the Washington of his childhood in memoirs recently edited and published by Paul Lastrapes. In them, McNicoll recalls, "The Boeuf flows through a valley of very fertile red lands the soil of which seems to be peculiarly adapted to the needs of sugar cane. Its banks were lined with 'Open-Kettle' sugar mills that turned out sugar and molasses in different grades. It was the job of the 'barges' to get the production of these mills down to Washington, there to be loaded into the steamboats. "

"These barges as I recall were about four and a half feet deep, fourteen feet wide, and anywhere from sixty to seventy feet long and all that I ever saw were pointed at each end, with a cabin or galley midway of their length. The gunnels were widened so as to make a safe walkway for the pole men who propelled and guided the barge."

The historic significance of Washington is recorded in the Register of National Historic Places, which includes 80 percent of the town. In recent years, many of the historically significant buildings have undergone major restoration.

According to historian William Henry Perrin, who wrote in 1891: "It is the most important place in the parish next to Opelousas and has about a thousand inhabitants, several fine stores, factories, warehouses, etc., and does a large business in shipping cotton and rice, and other products of the country. A large number of agricultural implements are sold annually. There are several churches, the principal one being Catholic, a Catholic school and a public school, and a newspaper (The Washington Advocate) .

In 1853, a terrible scourge of yellow fever struck Washington, probably coming from New Orleans, which also underwent one of its worst yellow fever epidemics that year. According to old church records, about one-third of the then 300 residents of Washington died during the outbreak.

There was a fire in the heart of the town in May 1879. According to The Opelousas Courier of May 24, 1879: "A destructive fire occurred in our sister town of Washington last Tuesday night, supposed to have been the work of an incendiary. It originated in Carl Wolff's store, on Main Street, destroying his entire property, covering half the square and consisting of the store, dwelling, warehouse, and outbuildings, together with all the stock of goods, household furniture, & etc. Extending across the street, the flames devoured the former store of P. Jacobs occupied as a warehouse, his warehouse adjoining, the residence of B.S. Mudd and Sam'l Kaufman, with their contents, and all the outbuildings; in fact the entire block, with the exception of the residence and kitchen of Dr. E.P. Doremus.

"Lemontey's store, on the opposite side of the street, caught fire but was happily extinguished before the flames could make much head way. The roof of Phil. Jacobs' new store also caught fire, and his fine stock of goods is supposed to be somewhat damaged by water.

"The fire was discovered at about 1 o'clock Wednesday morning, when it had already made considerable progress, the explosion of a keg of gunpowder in Carl Wolff's store being the first inclination the neighbors had of the work of the destruction going on . The fire companies turned out promptly, and but for their timely assistance and herculean efforts half the town would now probably be in ashes."

The last steamboats visited Washington in May of 1900. They were the J.E. Trudeart and the Warren. Until then, the Warren had made regular trips between Washington and New Orleans, leaving from Washington on a Friday and returning from New Orleans on the following Saturday. Round-trip fare was $11.

Fire struck Washington again on Aug. 5, 1902. Raymond Breaux, editor of the St. Landry Clarion reported: "Every building in the town was not burned, but the business portion, the heart and life, of the town, is now represented by heaps of ashes and yet smoldering coals. It is a pitiable sight; even a mournful sight, for the groups of men and women and children who are gathered 'round the ruins every hour of the day, silent and downcast, give the scene a mournful, graveyard appearance."

The paper reported that the fire started in the Abe Meyer livery stable, probably from a cigarette. Four blocks were burned, including "everything, some 40 buildings, from Sittig to Dupre streets, and from St. John to Washington streets."