Early years Opelousas takes its name from the Native American tribe
Opelousa who had occupied the area before European contact. French traders, called
coureurs de bois (forest trappers and hunters), arrived in the Opelousas area in the early 1740s to trade with the Opelousas Indians. The French encouraged immigration to the Opelousas Post before they ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762. Governor
Jean-Jacques d’Abbadie opened the "Opelousas Country" to settlers in 1763. An official post was established in 1764; Frenchman Louis Gérard Pellerin was appointed as the first commandant on July 1, 1764. By 1766,
Saint Landry Catholic Church was built. In 1769, about 100 families, mostly French, were living in the post.
Don Alejandro O'Reilly, Spanish governor of Louisiana, issued a land ordinance to allow settlers in the frontier of the Opelousas Territory to acquire land grants. However, O’Reilly forbade
Acadians from settling in the Opelousas area until his successor,
Luis de Unzaga, nullified that order and allowed Acadians to settle at the Opelousas. The first official land grant was made in 1782. Numerous settlers: French, Spanish,
Creoles, and Acadians – mainly from the Attakapas Territory – came to the Opelousas Territory and acquired land grants. By the mid-1780s, land was granted at the site of contemporary Opelousas. (Some people confuse the name of this Indian tribe and territory, Opelousas, with that of the
Appaloosa horse. But there is no connection; the name for the Appaloosa breed is derived from
Palouse, a river named by the
Nez Perce Northwestern Plains Indians.) After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 to France who had regained it in 1800, settlers continued to migrate here from
St. Martinville. LeBon, Prejean, Thibodaux, Esprit, Nezat, Hebert, Babineaux, Mouton, and Provost were some of the early Creole families. (This use of
Creole meant ethnic French and Spanish people who were born in Louisiana. Later
Louisiana Creole was a term applied to anyone with French, Spanish, and Canadian ancestry. Creoles of color were mostly assigned to
mixed-race people, descended primarily from Native Americans, African-Americans, and ethnic French, with other heritage in more recent years.) Other early French Creole families were Roy, Barre, Guenard, Decuir, and Bail. In 1820, Alex Charles Barre, also a French Creole, founded
Port Barre. His ancestors came from the French West Indies, probably after the revolution in which
Haiti (
St. Domingue) became independent.
Jim Bowie and his family were said to have settled in the area
circa 1813. In 1805, Opelousas became the seat of the newly formed St. Landry Parish – named after the church located there and in honor of
Saint Landry – the parish was also known as the Imperial Parish of Louisiana. The year 1806 marked the beginning of significant construction in Opelousas. The first courthouse was constructed in the middle of the town. Later in 1806, Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church was founded. It was the first
Methodist church in Louisiana. Five years later, the first St. Landry Parish Police Jury met in Opelousas, keeping minutes in the two official languages of English and French. The city was incorporated by legislative act on February 14, 1821.
American Civil War European and American settlement was based on plantation agriculture, and both groups brought or purchased numerous enslaved Africans and African Americans to work as laborers in cotton cultivation. African Americans influenced all cultures as the people created a "creolized" cuisine and music. The long decline of cotton prices throughout the 19th century created economic problems, worsened by the lack of employment diversity. In 1862, after
Baton Rouge was liberated by
Union troops during the
Civil War, Opelousas was designated the state capital for nine months. The governor's mansion in Opelousas, which was the oldest remaining governor's mansion in Louisiana, was the victim of arson on July 14, 2016, and the structure was reduced to a chimney and its foundation. The one-story mansion was located on the corner of Liberty and Grolee Streets, just west of the heart of town. An observation tower was removed from the top of the residence in the early 1900s, but the remainder of the exterior was identical to its original construction in the 1850s. The entire roof section of heavy rafters was held in place by thousands of wooden pegs; not one nail could be found in the attic. Plans had been made to restore the building to some of its former splendor. The capital was moved again in 1863, this time to
Shreveport, when Union troops occupied Opelousas. During
Reconstruction, the state government operated from
New Orleans.
Reconstruction After the defeat of the Confederacy and emancipation of slaves, many whites had difficulty accepting the changed conditions, especially as economic problems and dependence on agriculture slowed the South's recovery. Social tensions were high during Reconstruction. In 1868, in what is known as the
Opelousas massacre, whites killed 27 African Americans in a mass execution; they had been captured in a protest. Whites continued to attack blacks on sight for days. An estimated additional 23 to 200–300
freedmen were killed during this period. This series of murders comprised one of the single worst instances of Reconstruction violence in south Louisiana. Following this, Opelousas in 1872 enacted ordinances that greatly restricted the freedoms of black Americans. These codes required blacks to have a written pass from their employer to enter the town and to state the duration of their visit. Blacks were not allowed on the streets after a 10 pm curfew; they could neither own a house nor reside in the town, unless they were employed by a white person, and they were not allowed in the town after 3 pm on Sundays. Like the Black Codes, such police regulations restricted the freedoms and personal autonomy of freedmen after the Civil War in the South. In the year 1920, segregation at St Landry Catholic Church led local
Black Catholics to establish their own parish,
Holy Ghost. It has since grown to become the largest Black parish in the United States. In May 1927, Opelousas accepted thousands of refugees following the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 in the Mississippi Delta. Heavy rains in northern and midwestern areas caused intense flooding in areas of
Mississippi,
Arkansas, and Louisiana downstream, especially after levées near
Moreauville,
Cecilia, and
Melville collapsed. During the tenure of Parish
Sheriff Cat Doucet from 1936 to 1940 and 1952 to 1968, the section of Opelousas along Highway 190 was a haven of gambling and prostitution. ==Demographics==