The U.S. state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes (French: paroisses, Spanish: parroquias), making it the only state besides Alaska to call its subdivisions something other than "counties."[a] Louisiana's usage of the term "parish" for a geographic region or local government dates back to the French colonial and Spanish colonial periods and is connected to ecclesiastical parishes.
Louisiana was formed from French and Spanish colonies, which were both officially Roman Catholic. Local colonial government was based upon parishes, as the local ecclesiastical division.
Following the Louisiana Purchase, the territorial legislative council in April 1805 divided the Territory of Orleans (the predecessor of Louisiana state) into 12 counties. The borders of these counties were poorly defined, but largely coincided with the colonial ecclesiastical parishes.[2][3]
On March 31, 1807, the territorial legislature created 19 parishes without abolishing any of the old counties (which term continued to exist until 1845). In 1811, a constitutional convention was held to prepare for Louisiana's admission into the Union.[4] This organized the state into seven judicial districts, each consisting of groups of parishes. In 1816, the first official map of the state used the term parish, as did the 1845 constitution. Since then, the official term for Louisiana's primary civil divisions has been parishes.
By April 1812, Attakapas Parish became St. Martin Parish and St. Mary Parish. On April 30, the state was admitted to the Union with 25 parishes.
By 1820, Washington Parish was added, and Feliciana Parish split into West and East in 1824. The next year, Jefferson Parish was carved from Orleans Parish. By 1830, Claiborne Parish was created, and the old Warren Parish was mostly absorbed into Ouachita Parish, only to return as Carroll Parish a few years later.
In 1838, Caddo Parish was created from Natchitoches, as were Madison and Caldwell parishes in the east. In 1839, Union Parish was formed from Ouachita, and Calcasieu was formed from St. Landry in 1840.
Five parishes were created in 1843: Bossier, DeSoto, Franklin, Sabine, and Tensas. Morehouse Parish and Vermilion Parish were formed from Ouachita and Lafayette parishes, respectively, in 1844. The next year, Jackson Parish was formed, the old county units were abandoned, and the units were officially referred to as "parishes". In 1848, Bienville Parish was formed from Claiborne Parish. In 1852, Winn Parish was formed, while parishes further south added and lost land.
In 1853, Lafourche Interior Parish was renamed to Lafourche Parish. During Reconstruction, state government created a number of new parishes, with the first being Iberia and Richland parishes. Plans for creating a parish like Iberia from St. Martin and St. Mary parishes had dated from the 1840s. (A surveying error in Iberia's creation broke St. Martin Parish into two non-contiguous parts, making it and Norfolk County, Massachusetts as the only county-level units with their own exclaves.) Tangipahoa and Grant parishes followed in 1869. In 1870, the fifth Reconstruction parish, Cameron, was created, which was followed by the sixth, seventh, and eighth parishes (Red River, Vernon, and Webster, respectively) in 1871. The ninth parish to be formed under Radical Republican rule was Lincoln, named after the late president and formed in 1873. In 1877, the old parish of Carroll divided into East and West Carroll parishes, which are unofficially called the tenth and eleventh Reconstruction parishes, as the project ended that year.
No new parishes were formed until 1886, when Acadia Parish was formed from St. Landry. Again, no new parishes were formed, this time until 1908, when the western half of Catahoula parish became LaSalle parish.
In 1910, the parish count rose to 61 with the creation of Evangeline Parish, and the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th parishes (Allen, Beauregard, and Jefferson Davis) were created from areas of Calcasieu Parish. There were several minor boundary changes afterward, the most substantial being the division of Lake Pontchartrain among Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, and St. Charles Parishes in 1979.
Name is of uncertain origin; may be from an early land grant called New Concordia, from the "concord" reached by local authorities over a mutual surrender of slaves or for a mansion called Concord which was owned by Spanish governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos and located in Natchez, Mississippi
Biloxi Parish formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when it was transferred to the Mississippi Territory.[3]
Carroll Parish formed in 1838 from part of Ouachita Parish. In 1877, it was divided into East Carroll Parish and West Carroll Parish.[3]
Feliciana Parish formed in 1810 from West Florida territory. In 1824, it was divided into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish.[3]
Pascagoula Parish formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when it was transferred to the Mississippi Territory.[3]
Warren Parish formed in 1811 from part of Concordia Parish, and merged into Concordia Parish and Ouachita Parish in 1814.[3]
Territorial counties
On April 10, 1805, the Territorial Council enacted a map dividing the territory into 12 counties based upon ecclesiastical districts established under Spanish rule. In 1807, the Territorial Council revised the 12-county system to create 19 civil parishes.[2]
The original twelve counties defined by the Territorial Legislative Council in 1805 were:[2]
Acadia County – Parishes of St. James and the Ascension (also known as the First and Second Acadian Coasts). In 1807, divided into Ascension and St. James parishes.
Attakapas County – Parish of St. Martin. In 1807, renamed Attakapas Parish. In 1811, it was subdivided into St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.
Concordia County – The only portion not part of preexisting ecclesiastical district. In 1807, renamed Concordia Parish.
Natchitoches County – Parish of St. Francis. In 1807, renamed Natchitoches Parish.
Opelousas County – Parish of St. Landry. In 1807, renamed St. Landry Parish.
Orleans County – All territory on both sides of the "Mississippi from the Balize to the beginning of the parishes of St. Bernard and St. Louis." In 1807, divided into Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes.
Ouachita County – The Ouachita settlements. In 1807, renamed Ouachita Parish.
Pointe Coupée County – The Parish of St. Francis. In 1807, divided into Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupée parishes.
Rapides County – The settlements of Rapides, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Bayou Boeuf, Bayou Robert, and other settlements in the region. In 1807, divided into Avoyelles and Rapides parishes.
The movie Steel Magnolias was said to take place in the fictional Chinquapin Parish, likely a suburban parish of Shreveport. However, the movie was shot in Natchitoches, and involved several elements of culture indicative of the town and parish of the same name. For example, the annual Christmas Festival of Lights in Natchitoches is shown, as are Cajun dance styles with a distinctive country-Cajun band. (Natchitoches is in the Crossroads region of Louisiana, where southern Louisiana's predominantly Catholic, Cajun culture meets the primarily Protestant, Anglo culture of northern Louisiana.)
In the movie In the Electric Mist, Deputy Jason J. Bayard was from the fictional St. Clare Parish.
In the DC Comics Universe, Belle Reve Parish is a parish in Louisiana that contains the Bell Reve Penitentiary.
In the movie The Green Mile, a fictional parish named Trapingus Parish is featured in the movie. The film was actually shot in Tennessee.
In the Cinemax TV series Banshee, Chayton Littlestone is seen fighting in the fictional Sang Tholis Parish, which is said to be in New Orleans. "Sang" is the French word for "blood", but could also be a dialect for "sans", without. "Tholis" is not a French word. In reality, the city of New Orleans is located entirely in Orleans Parish.
In the movie Doctor Detroit, protagonist Clifford Skridlow (played by Dan Aykroyd) appears in a Detroit court as a stereotypical (based on "Atticus Finch" in To Kill a Mockingbird) Southern attorney from Bay Saint Louis Parish.
In the 2017 video game Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the vast majority of the game takes place in the fictional Dulvey Parish, somewhere on the coast.
The "Faster, Baby!" DLC for Mafia III, also a 2017 video game, takes place in Sinclair Parish just west of the fictional city of 'New Bordeaux', a fictional version of New Orleans set in 1968.
In Season 2 of Designated Survivor a flu outbreak originates in South Carroll Parish.
The television series Queen Sugar is set in St. Josephine Parish, which borders Orleans Parish and is where the titular family; the Bordelon's, reside.
The 2006 sequel movie Road House 2 is set in the coastal Tyree Parish.
The 2011 crime thriller film Catch .44 takes place in Civil Parish, with one of the antagonists stealing a parish sheriff deputy's uniform.
St. Martin Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, founded in 1811. Its parish seat is St. Martinville, and the largest city is Breaux Bridge. At the 2020 census, the population was 51,767. St. Martin Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan area in the region of Acadiana, along the Gulf Coast.
St. Landry Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 82,540. The parish seat is Opelousas. The parish was established in 1807.
Scouting in Louisiana has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
The Territory of Orleans or Orleans Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from October 1, 1804, until April 30, 1812, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Louisiana.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
The Louisiana State Police is the state police agency of Louisiana, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state, headquartered in Baton Rouge. It falls under the authority of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is officially known in that organization as the Office of State Police.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division (LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdiction anywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department's Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a "game warden", Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state's commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state's waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.
The Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal are the intermediate appellate courts for the state of Louisiana.
The 2000 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Attakapas Parish, a former parish (county) in southern Louisiana, was one of the twelve parishes in the Territory of Orleans, newly defined by the United States federal government following its Louisiana Purchase in 1803. At its core was the Poste des Attakapas trading post, which developed as the current city of St. Martinville.
The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) is a Federal-State partnership whose mission it is to improve the quality of life for the residents of the Mississippi Delta. The Delta Regional Authority serves 252 counties and parishes in parts of eight states: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Led by a Federal Co-Chairman appointed by the President and the governors of the eight states, the DRA fosters partnerships throughout the region as it works to improve the Delta economy. DRA funds can be used to leverage other federal and state programs.
The 1976 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The state of Louisiana has 42 district courts, with each serving at least one parish.
The 1972 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 1972. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1968 United States presidential election in Louisiana was held on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election. Along with four other contiguous southern states, former and future Alabama Governor George Wallace won the state for the American Party by a large margin against Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Republican Richard Nixon. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Jefferson Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Lafayette Parish, Ouachita Parish, Bossier Parish, Union Parish, and LaSalle Parish did not vote for the Republican presidential candidate.
The 1960 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1956 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1952 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 4, 1952, as part of the 1952 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1948 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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