Lafayette, Louisiana
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| Lafayette, Louisiana | |
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Counties | Lafayette Parish, Louisiana |
| Government | |
| - City-Parish President | Joey Durel (R) |
| Area | |
| - City | 123.5 km² (47.7 sq mi) |
| - Land | 123.3 km² (47.6 sq mi) |
| - Water | 0.2 km² (0.1 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 12 m (39.4 ft) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - City | 110,257 |
| - Density | 894.5/km² (236.7/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Website: www.lafayettela.gov | |
Lafayette is a city on the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Lafayette is the parish seat. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 110,257; a 2004 census estimate put the metro area's population at 246,160. It is the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principle city of the Lafayette-Acadiana LA Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2004, had a total population of 522,838.
The city was founded as Vermilionville in 1821 by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean Mouton. In 1884, it was renamed for the Marquis de Lafayette, who assisted the United States during its Revolutionary War. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industry became dominant.
Lafayette has a strong tourism industry, attracted by the Cajun and Creole cultures of the surrounding region. It has one of the highest restaurant counts per capita of cities in the area.
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[edit] Geography
Lafayette is located at (30.213901, -92.029363)GR1 in the south-central area of Louisiana at the junction of Interstate Highways 10 and 49.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 123.5 km² (47.7 mi²). 123.3 km² (47.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.19%) is water.
The Vermilion River runs through the center of Lafayette. Other significant waterways in the city are Isaac Verot Coulee, Coulee Mine, Coulee des Poches and Coulee Ile Des Cannes, which are natural drainage canals that lead to the Vermilion River.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 110,257 people, 43,506 households, and 27,104 families residing in the city. The population density was 894.5/km² (2,316.7/mi²). There were 46,865 housing units at an average density of 380.2/km² (984.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 68.23% White, 28.51% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.44% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.58% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.88% of the population.
Lafayette is the only major city in Louisiana to be growing in population instead of shrinking (the population was boosted mostly by Hurricane Rita evacuees in the area and while Katrina victims once made up a large number of new citizens many Katrina victims have moved back to their home region). However, according to a 2005 estimate, Lake Charles, Louisiana has resumed growing once again after a slight loss of .03 % between 1990 and 2000.
Lafayette is approximately 90% Roman Catholic and thus, has a large number of Catholic schools.[citation needed]
There were 43,506 households out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.9% were married couples living together, 14.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 13.3% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,996, and the median income for a family was $47,783. Males had a median income of $37,729 versus $23,606 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,031. About 11.6% of families and 16.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 14.5% of those age 65 or over. In the 1970s, Lafayette had the distinction of having more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States, thanks mostly to the oil industry.
[edit] Education
[edit] List of colleges and universities
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- South Louisiana Community College
- Remmington College (Lafayette Campus)
- Louisiana Technical College (Lafayette Campus)
- Delta College of Arts & Technology (Lafayette Campus)
[edit] List of public high schools
- Acadiana High School
- O. Comeaux High School
- Lafayette Charter High School
- Lafayette High School
- Northside High School
[edit] List of public middle schools
- Lafayette Middle
- LJ Alleman Middle
- Acadian Middle
- N.P Moss Middle
- Martin Middle
- Moss Middle
- Paul Breaux Middle
- Scott Middle
- Judice Middle
- Youngsville Middle
[edit] List of public elementary schools
- Myrtle Place Elementary
- Vermillion Elementary
- J.W Faulk Elementary
- Evangeline Elementary
- Prairie Elementary
- Edgar A. Martin Elementary
- Broodmoor Elementary
- Plantation Elementary
- Alice M. Boucher Elementary
- Broodmoor Elementary
- Montgomery Elementary
- Live Oak Elementary
- Truman Elementary
- Westside Elementary
- Judice Elementary
- Green T. Lindon Elementary
[edit] Private Schools
- Cathedral Carmel School
- Our Lady of Fatima School
- Lafayette Christian Academy
- St. Thomas More School
- Teurlings Catholic High School
- Ascension Day School
[edit] Health & Medicine
Lafayette is served by the following hospitals.
- Lafayette General Medical Center - 1214 Coolidge Street
- University Medical Center - 2390 West Congress Street
- Womens and Childrens Hospital - 4600 Ambassador Caffery Parkway
- Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital - 1011 Kaliste Saloom Road
- Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center - 611 Saint Landry Street
- Medical Center of Southwest Louisiana - 2810 Ambassador Caffery Parkway
[edit] Sports
Lafayette is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. It is also home to the Lafayette Bayou Bulls semi-pro football program which started in 2003. Between the years of 1995 and 2005, Lafayette was home to the Louisiana IceGators ECHL hockey team.
Sports venues:
[edit] Military
Lafayette is the home of the National Guard headquarters of the 256th Infantry Brigade, a military unit of over 3,000 soldiers that served in Iraq in the years of 2004-5.
[edit] Government and politics
Lafayette currently has a Republican city-parish president, Joey Durel. As the largest city in the seventh congressional district of Louisiana, it overwhelmingly supported U.S. representative Charles Boustany in his races in 2004 and 2006; he is a citizen of Lafayette. In 2004, Lafayette casted 57,000 ballots for George W. Bush and 31,000 for John F. Kerry. According to the Bay City Center for Voting Research, Lafayette is the ninth most conservative city in the nation.[1]
Notable local politicians
- J. Rayburn Bertrand (deceased), mayor from 1960-1972
- Kenneth Francis "Kenny" Bowen (deceased), mayor from 1972-1980; 1992-1996
- Isaac A. Broussard (deceased), Lafayette Parish sheriff (1888-1904), one of two longest-tenured sheriffs
- Joey Durel, mayor-president of Lafayette consolidated government since 2004
- William Dudley "Dud" Lastrapes, Jr., first Republican mayor of Lafayette since Reconstruction, served 1980-1992
- Ashton J. Mouton (deceased), youngest mayor in Lafayette history, served 1948-1956
Lafayette is also home to a branch of the AmeriCorps State program (http://www.americorps.org/). UL AmeriCorps is associated with the University of Louisiana and employs about 40 students who perform either 900 or 400 hours of community service in 11 months. (http://americorps.louisiana.edu/)
[edit] Media
[edit] Print
- The Daily Advertiser, daily newspaper
- The Independent Weekly, weekly newspaper
- The Times of Acadiana, weekly newspaper
- The Vermillion, UL Lafayette student newpaper
[edit] Television
Lafayette is home to KATC-TV, Channel 3, an (ABC) affiliate, and KLFY-TV Channel 10 (CBS). KADN-TV, Channel 15, a Fox affiliate, and KPLC-TV, Channel 7, a NBC affiliate are located nearby in Lake Charles.
[edit] Radio
AM
- 770 KJCB-AM (R&B/Hip-Hop)
- 960 KROF-AM (Cajun music)
- 1190 KNEK-AM (Urban Adult Contemporary)
- 1230 KSLO-AM (Country)
- 1240 KANE-AM (Cajun music)
- 1290 KJEF-AM (Cajun music)
- 1330 KVOL-AM (Talk)
- 1360 KNIR-AM (Religious, KJMJ repeater)
- 1420 KPEL-AM (Sports)
- 1450 KSIG-AM (Oldies)
- 1490 KEUN-AM (Talk)
- 1520 KFXZ-AM (Classic Country)
FM
- 88.7 KRVS-FM (Music of Louisiana)
- 89.9 KSJY-FM (Contemporary Christian)
- 90.9 KIKL-FM (Contemporary Christian)
- 92.7 KZJM(LP)-FM (R&B/Hip-Hop)
- 94.5 KSMB-FM (Top 40)
- 95.5 KRRQ-FM (R&B/Hip-Hop)
- 96.5 KFTE-FM (Alternative Rock)
- 97.3 KMDL-FM (Country)
- 99.1 KXKC-FM (Country)
- 99.9 KTDY-FM (Adult Contemporary)
- 101.1 KBON-FM (Cajun music)
- 102.1 KQIS-FM (Hot Adult Contemporary)
- 102.9 KAJN-FM (Contemporary Christian)
- 104.7 KNEK-FM (Adult R&B)
- 105.1 KPEL-FM (News/Talk)
- 105.5 KEUN-FM (Country)
- 105.9 KTSJ-FM (Smooth Jazz)
- 106.3 KKSJ-FM (Smooth Jazz)
- 106.7 KBEB-FM (Soft Adult Contemporary)
- 107.1 KOGM-FM (Adult Contemporary)
- 107.9 KRKA-FM (Rhythmic Top 40)
[edit] Points of interest
- Acadian Village is a reconstructed (actually, reassembled) Cajun bayou and has a community representative collection of Cajun furnishings.
- Acadiana Center for the Arts
- Alexandre Mouton House Museum was home to Louisiana's first Democratic governor, Alexandre Mouton, who once lived in this antebellum town house. It is now a museum and contain collection of antiques, historical documents, and old mardi gras costumes.
- Cajundome is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns basketball team. In addition it also serves as a convention space.
- Cajun Field also nicknamed "the Swamp" is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team.
- Children's Museum of Acadiana
- Cite des Arts
- Heymann Center A performing arts center.
- Jean Lafitte National Park Acadian Cultural Center
- Jefferson Street Market has 65 shops under one roof, offering everything from fine French antiques to fine art by regional artists.
- Lafayette Natural History Museum & Planetarium is a combination museum and planetarium, which houses over 1,000 paintings, prints and sculpture of Louisiana artists and regularly changing exhibits and planetarium programs.
- Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE) is a state-of-the-art resource center encompassing the world’s first six-sided, digital virtual reality cube as well as the world’s largest digital 3-D auditorium.
- Mall of Acadiana - Contains a Dillards, Sears, JCPenny, Macy's, and over 120 specialty stores and services.
- Paul and Lulu Hillard University Art Museum has a Permanent Collection consists of more than 2000 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and photographs that represents 18th, 19th and 20th century Louisiana, in addition to works from around the world.
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- USGS National Wetlands Research Center is a research facility operated by the U.S Geological Survey that focuses on estuarine, marine, and freshwater wetlands.
- River Ranch An urban village with residences, restaurants, and specialty shops.
- Vermillionville is a reconstruction of a Cajun-Creole settlement from the 1765-to-1890 era
- Zoo of Acadiana is located nearby in Broussard.
Events
- Festivals Acadiens
- Festival International
- Festival de Musique Acadienne
[edit] Transportation
- Air: Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is on US Highway 90, on the southeast side of the city.
- Interstate Highway: I-10 and I-49
- Passenger Rail: The Amtrak Sunset Limited offers service to Orlando, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California
- Public Transit: Lafayette Transit provides bus service.
Lafayette is also served by U.S. Routes 90 (known as the Evangeline Thruway for part of its route) and 167 (also known as Johnston Street). Ambassador Caffery Parkway, named for Jefferson Caffery, serves as a partially completed loop around Lafayette. Other Arterial Roads serving Lafayette include Verot School Road (LA 339), Congress Street, Kaliste Saloom Road (LA 3095), Carmel Dr. (LA 94), University Avenue (LA 182), and Pinhook Road (LA 182).
[edit] Notable residents
Natives
Some of the notable people born in Lafayette:
- Jefferson Caffery (deceased), former U.S. ambassador
- Domanick Williams, NFL running back
- Michael Doucet, Cajun musician
- Walter Davis, triple jump athlete
- Kevin Faulk, NFL running back
- Ron Guidry, former NY Yankees pitcher
- Danneel Harris, television actress
- Angela Kinsey, television actress
- Brett Weaver, Anime voice over actor; mostly known for his work with ADV Films
Residents
Other notable residents of Lafayette:
- Kevyn Aucoin (deceased), professional makeup artist
- Paul Bako, major league baseball player
- Captain Steven L. Bennett (deceased), Vietnam War Medal of Honor winner
- Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana governor
- Aaron Dalbec, musician
- Greg Bonin, major league baseball umpire
- Hollis Conway, Olympic medalist
- Brandon Stokley, NFL Wide Receiver
- Jake Delhomme, NFL quarterback
- Javon Walker, NFL Wide Receiver
- Ernest Gaines, acclaimed writer
- Ben Earl Looney (deceased), acclaimed painter originally from Webster Parish
- Elizabeth McNulty, Miss Louisiana 2007
- For more details on this topic, see Category:University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni.
- Micah Lopez, Professional Cage Fighter and owner/instructor of Cajun Karate (Brown Belt in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu)
Larry Logan, International Virtuoso of the Harmonica
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Lafayette Consolidated Government
- Lafayette Conventions and Visitors Center
- Downtown Alive
- Pelicans on Parade in Lafayette
