The Story of the Development of Downtown Lafayette
In 1815, a travelling geographer-biographer named William Darby wrote about Lafayette, then called the Attakapas County. At that time there were fewer than two people per square mile living here, in an area Darby described as consisted of two vast prairies on either side of the Vermilion River. It was inhabited by Atakapa-Ishak and Canneci (Lipan Apache) Tribes and the competing Choctaw Tribes. Also from surrounding areas were the Chitimacha and Opelousa Tribes. Between 1765 and 1785 the first great wave of immigration occurred in South Louisiana as Acadian exiles settled the area, and they brought with them the Roman Catholic religion. The influence of the Church served to offer the first geographical organization to this region, the center of which was Saint Martin de Tours Catholic Church located in present-day Saint Martinville.
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