Did You Know Why Louisiana Uses Parishes Instead Of Counties?

Have you ever wondered why Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes instead of counties? With the exception of Alaska, all of the other 48 states uses counties to divide up their state. To learn why Louisiana parishes stuck, we have to take a quick history lesson.

The term “parish” has been used in the Louisiana region since before the Louisiana Purchase.

It dates back to before Louisiana was a part of the United States and was controlled by both France and Spain.

Roman Catholic was the official religion for both France and Spain during these times, which is where “parish” comes into play.

Pictured above is a map of Louisiana in 1750, before the French and Indian War.

The ecclesiastical division coincided with church parishes.

Now, Louisiana parishes like St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, and St. Martin are making more sense, right?

After the Louisiana Purchase (1803), Louisiana (then called the Territory of New Orleans) was divided into 12 counties.

They roughly matched the parishes the area was already using, so they kept using the term parish instead of counties...and it stuck.

Here are the original 12 parishes:

Acadia Parish

Attakapas Parish

Concordia Parish

German Coast Parish

Iberville Parish

Lafourche Parish

Natchitoches Parish

Opelousas Parish

Orleans Parish

Ouachita Parish

Pointe Coupée Parish

Rapides Parish

As years went by, many Louisiana parish lines were redrawn and new ones were formed.

Here’s some fun trivia for you:

Attakapas Parish existed from 1805 to 1811 and is Lafayette, Vermillion, and Iberia parishes today.

Biloxi Parish was only around for about a year (1811-1812) before it became a part of the Mississippi Territory.

Carrol Parish was divided in 1877 to form East and West Carroll Parish. Similarly, Feliciana Parish was divided into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish in 1824.

Opelousas Parish was renamed St. Landry Parish in 1805.

No new parishes have been added to Louisiana since 1910.

There were some minor boundary adjustments in 1979 to the Louisiana parishes that surround Lake Pontchartrain, but no new parishes were created. The last parishes to join the squad were Evangeline Parish, Allen Parish, Beauregard Parish, and Jefferson Davis Parish, which were all added between 1910-1912.

Now that you know why Louisiana uses parishes instead of countries, read on to discover how some Louisiana parishes got their name. You might even be inspired to buy some sweet Louisiana merch from our friends at WearYourRoots!

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/louisiana/parish-names-la/