In 2023 Lafayette Parish will celebrate its bicentennial with a series of events throughout the year that honor the history of the parish and look to what the future holds.

Lafayette Parish has a long and profound history of various cultures, starting with the indigenous Atakapa-Ishak, Choctaw, Chitimacha, and Opelousa. They were some of the first to inhabit the area. About 18,000 Acadian refugees settled in the area after being expelled from Canada in 1755 when Great Britain captured the land from France. The Acadians married other native, French, Spanish, and African settlers, forming the many cultures that make up Lafayette Parish.

It has been nearly two-hundred years since we were chartered by the Louisiana Legislature in 1823. Two years earlier, in 1821, Jean Mouton, a wealthy planter donated a parcel of land to the community known as Vermilionville, for a Courthouse, and a Cathedral. Jean Mouton became known as the founder of Vermilionville, that became the city of Lafayette in 1884. More Here