a ST. MARTIN 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)

Some memorable dates in St. Martin's past

by Jim Bradshaw

Edouard Masse moves to the Attakapas District. He may have been its first European settler.

Gabriel Fuselier de la Claire is named the first commandant of the Poste des Attakapas and buys land from an Attakapas chief.

Jean-Antoine Bernard Dauterive and his partner Edouard Masse receive French land grants in the Attakapas District.

April 4 -- Eight Acadian leaders, chief among them Joseph (Beausoleil) Broussard, sign the so-called Dauterive Compact at New Orleans, agreeing to come to the Attakapas country and raise cattle.

July 16--The French government grants land in the Attakapas region to Augustin Grevemberg.

April--The Spanish government takes a census of the La Pointe and La Manque areas. These districts were located between the St. John Plantation northward to Breaux Bridge.

A land grant is issued to Jean Francois Ledee, encompassing nearly all of present day Breaux Bridge.

June 20--The first land grants are made to the Acadians, in the La Manque and La Pointe districts.

Sept. 4--Spanish Gov. Luis Unzaga confirms land grants to Jean-Antoine Bernard Dauterive.

Dauterive donates part of his Teche grant for construction of a church, probably as part of the deal under which his French grants were confirmed by Gov. Unzaga.

Acadian settlers at Bayou Tortue return to the Fausse Pointe area and receive land grants there.

Gov. Unzaga orders the seizure and sale of all property owned by Jean-Antoine Bernard Dauterive, partly because of a dispute over Dauterive's refusal to donate wood for a church at Poste des Attakapas.

What would become the Castillo Hotel is built at St. Martinville, as the home of Jean Berard.

Firmin Breaux buys land from Solomon Malines, agent for the Ledee estate, at what would become Breaux Bridge.

Father George Murphy takes charge of the church at St Martinville. He and his assistants are generally credited as being first to refer to the church as dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. It was first called l'Eglise de la Nouvelle Acadie aux Attakapas.

Firmin Breaux builds a footbridge across Bayou Teche at what would become Breaux Bridge.

Congress passes an act, approved March 26, effective Oct. 1, which divides the Louisiana Purchase into an upper portion, the District of Louisiana, and a lower part, the Territory of Orleans. The Attakapas region is in the Orleans district.

April 10 -- An act of the Orleans Legislative Council divides the Territory of Orleans into 12 counties, including "the County of Attacapas (sic) (which) shall comprehend the Parish of St. Martin, commonly called the Parish of Attacapas."

Aug. 14--The St. Martin Parish Police Jury purchases land at what will become St. Martinville, "in order to lay out a town and build a city hall."

April 17--The County of Attakapas is divided into two parishes: St. Martin and St. Mary.

The former Poste des Attakapas is first referred to as St. Martinville in a legal document, recording a land sale there.

Jan. 30--The Town of St. Martinville is incorporated under an act signed by Gov. Jacques Villere.

Firmin Breaux's son, Agricole, builds the first vehicular bridge at Breaux Bridge.

May 3--The Attakapas Steamboat Co. (chartered Feb. 26, 1819) ushers in the steamboat era on the upper Teche with the beginning of service by its first boat, the Teche.

October--The first edition of Attakapas Gazette is published at St. Martinville. It was one of the first five or six newspapers published in Louisiana outside of New Orleans.

August--Scholastique Breaux, widow of Agricole, draws up the Plan de la Ville du Pont des Braux (sic) and begins to sell lots.

March 8--A post office is opened at Breaux Bridge. Jean Jules Hardy becomes the first postmaster.

P. T. Barnum, traveling on his steamer Ceres with his theatrical company, comes through the Attakapas country. It was apparently not a hugely successful tour. Barnum's troupe was forced to disband in Opelousas, where he traded the steamer for sugar and molasses.

Dec. 19 -- The Attakapas Gazette and St. Mary, St. Martin and Lafayette Advertiser, formerly the Attakapas Gazette announces a grand ball at the new Salle de l'Union, as the old Castillo Hotel in St. Martinville was then known.

A Catholic chapel is established at Breaux Bridge, at the corner of W. Bridge and S. Main streets, the present site of Farmers & Merchants Bank.

The bridge at Breaux Bridge is converted to a mechanical bridge to allow steamboat travel farther up the Teche.

The St. Martinville Creole reports that "Miss Emma V...., the celebrated Aeronaut from Bordeaux" would "exhibit one ascension, in a superb Balloon, one hundred feet in length and three hundred feet in circumference ..." on Oct. 19 at 4 p.m.

Oct. 30--Iberia Parish is created from part of St. Martin Parish. A surveyor's error splits St. Martin.

The Attakapas Telegraph Line connects Washington, Opelousas, Grand Coteau, Carencro, Vermilionville (Lafayette), Breaux Bridge, St. Martinville, and New Iberia.

The Breaux Bridge Turf Association opens a race track near present-day Courville Street next to the railroad track. It later became known as the Domengeaux Race Course and was moved about 1900 to Anse La Butte.

The New Iberia, Abbeville, St Martinville, and Breaux Bridge Telephone Line goes into operation.

A branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad connects Cade to Port Barre, signaling the end of the Steamboat Era on the upper Teche.

Sept. 16 -- The Breaux Bridge Town Council meets to adopt measures to protect the town against yellow fever, then raging in New Orleans. Neighboring towns were declared quarantined. To be allowed into Breaux Bridge, a person had to have a certificate from a doctor.

The Southern Pacific railroad constructs the first railroad bridge across Bayou Teche.

Dec. 12 - Breaux Bridge native Jules B. Jeanmard is installed as the first Bishop of Lafayette.

The Flood of 1927 rampages through St. Martin Parish.

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).