Ascension Parish
Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons
Arranged in Cyclopedia Form--Volumes 1 and 2 (1914) by Alcee Fortier
Transcribed and slightly edited by Sheryl McClure ©August 31, 2011
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Ascension Parish.-- This Parish was created in 1807 when the first territorial legislature divided Orleans territory into 19 Parishes and was named after the old ecclesiastical district of Ascension. It has an area of 310 square miles, is situated in the southeastern part of the state, and is divided by the Mississippi river, which flows through the southwestern portion. It is bounded on the north by East Baton Rouge Parish, on the east and northeast by Livingston; on the south by St. James and Assumption Parishes, and on the west by Iberville Parish. The surface is about equally divided between alluvial land and wooded swamp, and the soil is exceedingly rich and highly productive. It is drained by the Mississippi and Amite rivers, Bayous Manchac and Les Acadians, and other smaller water courses. Ascension was first settled about 1763 by a colony of exiled Acadians, and became known as the second "Acadian Coast." The descendants of these pioneers are many of the most prominent and influential families of the Parish today.

 "The Parish of Ascension," was the name given the ecclesiastical division, by the promoters of the Catholic church, sent to America by Charles III of Spain. It formed a part of Comte d'Acadia until the division of the territory of Orleans into Parishes in 1807, when it was incorporated as one of the original 19 Parishes. Donaldsonville has been the seat of justice since the foundation of the Parish. Ascension has done much for public education; there are many public schools; two higher academies at Donaldsonville, one for white and one for colored children; the brothers of the Sacred Heart established a school in Donaldsonville in 1887; the Convent of the Sisters of St. Vincent, founded in 1848, has done much for the education and training of girls, and the sisters of the Holy Family have a school for the education of colored children. The Catholic religion predominates throughout the Parish. Ascension Catholic church of Donaldsonville was founded in 1772 by Angelus a Reuillagodos, a Capuchin father. The church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, at New River, was founded by Father Lessaichere, in 1864. The alluvial lands lying on both sides of the Mississippi river are as rich and valuable for the production of sugar-cane as any in the state, and Assumption Parish has some of the largest and best equipped sugar plantations in Louisiana. Since 1861 sugar has been the chief product, especially on the right bank of the river, where the production has increased from 50 to 100 per cent. Since the Civil war the growing popularity of rice culture has tended to cut down the sugar produced on the left bank of the Mississippi as rice was not cultivated to any great extent before 1868. The other productions of the Parish are cotton, corn, hay, oats, sweet and Irish potatoes, tobacco and garden truck. While horticulture is not one of the chief industries, such fruits and nuts as the orange, fig, pomegranate, plum, pear, peach, grape, prune, and pecan grow rapidly in the mild climate and rich soil. Game is plentiful and fish abound in the streams. Lumber of a fine quality is produced from the cypress swamps, and the ash, oak, willow and cottonwood which grow on higher ground.

Transportation is provided through the center of the Parish by the Louisiana Railway and Navigation company, in the southwestern part by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R., which runs from northwest to southeast along the east bank of the river, and by the Texas and Pacific R. R., and its branches on the west side of the river, while the steamboats on the Mississippi river afford cheap transportation by water. The following statistics regarding the farms, manufactures and population of the Parish are taken from the United States census for 1910: Number of farms, 1,170 ; acreage, 104,253; improved, 57,119; value of land exclusive of buildings, $3,149,870; value of farm buildings, $884;325; value of live stock, $460,762; value of all crops, $1,334,203. The population for 1910 was 23,887.

Acy, a money order post hamlet in the central part of Ascension Parish, is about 414 miles northeast of Brittany, the nearest railroad town.

Barton, a village in the southwestern part of Ascension Parish, is about 2 miles west of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat, and a mile east of Palo Alto, the nearest railroad station, It has a money order post office, and a population of 125.

Belle Helene, a village of Ascension Parish, is a station on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R., about 6 miles north of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It has a money order post office and a population of 150.

Bumside, a village in the southern part of Ascension Parish, is on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R., and about 6 miles northeast of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It has a money order post office, an express office, telephone and telegraph facilities.

Cofield, a post village of Ascension Parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river, 2 miles southwest of Burnside, the nearest railroad station, and 4 miles northeast of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is a shipping point for a rich agricultural district.

Comerview (R. R. name Witten), a post village in the northern part of Ascension Parish, is situated on the line of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation company, about 8 miles east of the Mississippi river.

Darrow, a village in the southern part of Ascension Parish, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river about 3 miles north of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is in a rich agricultural district, has sugar and rice industries, a money order post office, and a population of 200.

Donaldsonville, the seat of justice of Ascension Parish, is located in the southwestern part of the Parish on the right bank of the Mississippi river, about 80 miles by water above New Orleans, though the distance on an "air line" is only a little over 50 miles. The Ascension Catholic church was founded here as early as 1772 by Father Angelus a Reuillagodos, a Capuchin friar. The town was founded in 1806 by William Donaldson. When the Parish of Ascension was organized in 1807. Donaldsonville was made the Parish seat, and in 1813 the town received its first charter of incorporation. At one time it was inclined to contest honors with New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On Feb. 4, 1825, the legislature passed an act locating the state capital at Donaldsonville, and the statehouse then erected remained standing until 1848. In 1846 Donaldsonville annexed the town of "Unionville, " which was created by an act of the legislature, approved March 25, 1840, and which provided that "The inhabitants of the town of Donaldsonville, known as Fauboirgs, Lessard and Conway, are hereby incorporated under the name of Unionville." The Donaldsonville of the present day is an important industrial and commercial center and an active shipping and distributing point, as 15 lines of Mississippi and Red river steamers touch at its landing to receive and discharge freight and passengers. It is also on the Texas and Pacific R. R., and is the northern terminus of a branch of the same system that runs south to Thibodaux. The city has 3 banks, 3 newspapers, rice mills, large lumbering interests, machine shops, a canning factory, several extensive brickyards, an ice factory, etc., Catholic and Protestant churches, a Jewish synagogue, good public schools, several fire companies, and lodges of all the leading fraternal societies. The population is 4,090.

Duplessis, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Ascension Parish, is about 4 miles north of Witten, which is the most convenient railroad station.

Dutch Town, a money order post village in the northern part of Ascension Parish, is about 2 miles northeast of Nettie, the nearest railroad station.

Galveztown (Galvez). In the year 1778 the king of Spain, at his own expense, sent several families from the Canary islands to Louisiana. Some of them, under the leadership of St. Maxent, located on the high ground near the junction of the Amite and Manchac rivers, about 24 miles from Baton Rouge, where they formed a settlement, upon which they conferred the name of Galveztown, in honor of Bernardo de Galvez, at that time governor of Louisiana, as it was under his administration they had found a refuge in the New World. Ten years later, according to De Bow's Review, the town had a population. of 256. The site of the ancient village is now occupied by the little hamlet of Galvez, in Ascension Parish.

Geismar, a village in the western part of Ascension Parish, is on the east bank of the Mississippi river, and is a station on the main line of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R. It has a money order post office, express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities.

Gonzales, a village in the central part of Ascension Parish, is a station on the line of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation company, about 12 miles northeast of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is located in one of the richest agricultural districts along the Mississippi river, has several mercantile establishments, and is the shipping and supply town for the eastern part of the Parish. It has a money order post office, and a population of 300.

Hobart, a post hamlet in the northern part of Ascension Parish about 6 miles northeast of Bullion, the nearest railroad station, and some 15 miles north of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat.

Hohen Solms, a village in the western part of Ascension Parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river, about 4 miles north of McCall, the nearest railroad station, and 6 miles northwest of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It has a money order post office, telegraph and telephone facilities, and a population of 120.

Hope Villa, a village of Ascension Parish, is situated on the Bayou Manchac near the northern boundary of the Parish, about 6 miles northeast of Kleinpeter, the nearest railroad station. It has a money order post office and a population of 200.

Landry, a post-village of Ascension Parish, is situated near the southern boundary, about 3 miles west of Barment, the nearest railroad station,
and 8 miles east of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat.

McCall, a village in the southwestern part of Ascension Parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river and the Texas and Pacific R. R., about 4 miles northwest of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is a shipping and supply point for a considerable district, has an international money order post office, express office, telegraph and telephone facilities, and a population of 600.

Port Barrow is a growing town in Ascension Parish. Mail is received via Donaldsonville. Population 400.

Prairieville, a money order post-town in the northern part of Ascension Parish, is 4 miles east of Bullion, the nearest railroad town, and about 20 miles north of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is located in a rich agricultural district and has a population of 200.

Saint Amant, a money order post-village in the central part of Ascension Parish, is situated on a confluent of the Amite river, 5 miles east of Gongales, the nearest railroad station, in a rich agricultural district. Population 125.

Smoke Bend, one of the largest towns in Ascension Parish, is located on the west bank of the Mississippi river and is a station on the Texas and Pacific R. R., about 2 miles west of Donaldsonville, the Parish seat. It is in one of the richest farming sections of the state and is the shipping point for a considerable district. It has an international money order post office, telegraph and express offices, and a good retail trade. Population 600.
Southwood, a post-hamlet of Ascension Parish, is situated on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley R. R., where it crosses the western boundary of the Parish.