Lafayette, Louisiana Totally Explained

Everything about Lafayette Louisiana totally explained

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 2006 census estimate put the metro area's population at 254,432, while in the same year, a census estimate put the city's population at 114,214. It is the fourth largest incorporated city in the state. It is the principal city of the Lafayette-Acadiana, LA Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2006, had an estimated total population of 537,947.
The city was founded as Vermilionville in 1821 by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean Mouton. In 1884, it was renamed for General Lafayette, a French military hero who fought with and significantly aided the American Army during the American 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 numbers of restaurants per capita of any U.S. city.

Geography

Lafayette is located at (30.213901, -92.029363) and has an elevation of .
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 47.7 square miles (123.5 km²), of which, 47.6 square miles (123.3 km²) of it's land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) 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.

Demographics

The estimated population of the Lafayette-Acadiana metropolitan area for 2006 was 537,947
.
As of the census of 2000, there were 110,257 people, Notable local politicians

Ernie Alexander (b. 1933), state representative and former member of the Lafayette City-Parish Council

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 (b. 1953), mayor-president of Lafayette consolidated government since 2004

William Dudley "Dud" Lastrapes, Jr. (b. 1929), first Republican mayor of Lafayette since Reconstruction, served 1980-1992

Roderick Miller (deceased), first Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Lafayette since Reconstruction

Ashton J. Mouton (deceased), youngest mayor in Lafayette history, served 1948-1956

David Thibodaux (deceased), UL Lafayette English faculty, Lafayette Parish School Board member, four-time Republican congressional candidate 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/)

Media

Print

The Daily Advertiser, daily newspaper

The Independent Weekly, weekly newspaper

The Times of Acadiana, weekly newspaper

The Vermillion, UL Lafayette student newpaper Television
Lafayette is home to KATC-TV, Channel 3, an (ABC) affiliate, KLFY-TV Channel 10 (CBS), KADN-TV, Channel 15 (Fox), and KLWB, Channel 50 (CW). KPLC-TV, Channel 7 and WVLA, Channel 33, are NBC affiliates, located in nearby Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, respectively, but serve Lafayette as well. Radio

List of Lafayette radio stations

Points of interest

Lafayette now contracts the private company Redflex HoldingsRedflex to help enforce speeding laws and provide red light cameras at some intersections.

Acadian Village is a reconstructed Cajun bayou community (of moved and reassembled authentic buildings) and has a representative collection of Cajun furnishings. Website

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, home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns basketball teams, 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

Cypress Lake

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 consisting of more than 2000 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and photographs that represent 18th, 19th and 20th century Louisiana, in addition to works from around the world.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

National Wetlands Research Center is a research facility operated by the U.S. Geological Survey that focuses on estuarine, marine, and freshwater wetlands.

Vermillionville

is a reconstruction of a Cajun-Creole settlement from the 1765-to-1890 era

Zoo of Acadiana

is located nearby in Broussard.

Lafayette Public Library System

Events

Festivals Acadiens

Festival International

Festival de Musique Acadienne

MechaCon

(Annual Anime and Japanese Cultural Convention)

Retail and Shopping

Lafayette serves as the retail and shopping hub of the Acadiana area, serving an eight parish area. The seat of this retail is the Mall of Acadiana. The mall features department stores Macy's, Dillards, JC Penney, and Sears. It also includes over 100 specialty stores, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Talbots, Chico's, Nine West, and Coldwater Creek. Other retailers/stores that have recently located in Lafayette include Kohl's, Incredible Pizza Co., and Plato's Closet. Academy Sports and Outdoors recently built a new building for it's Lafayette location to become one of the largest stores in the Academy chain.

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 (Lafayette serves as I-49's southern terminus, at its intersection with I-10)

Passenger Rail: The Amtrak Sunset Limited offers service to Orlando, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California

Public Transit: Lafayette Transit System(External Link

) 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).

Notable residents

Natives
Some of the notable people born in Lafayette:

Nnamdi Asomugha, NFL defensive back

Paul Bako, a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds.

Jefferson Caffery (deceased), former U.S. ambassador

Page Cortez, District 43 state representative since 2008

Michael Doucet, Cajun musician

Walter Davis, triple jump athlete

Kevin Faulk, NFL running back

Patrick LeBlanc (1954-2008), businessman, architect, Republican politician

Garrett Maxwell, NFL Defensive Back, Dallas Cowboys

Ron Gomez, former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; journalist

Ron Guidry, Yankees pitcher

Danneel Harris, television actress

Angela Kinsey, television actress

Gil Meche, MLB pitcher, Kansas City Royals

Ross Mouton, professional basketball player

Brett Weaver, Anime voice over actor; mostly known for his work with ADV Films

Domanick Williams, NFL running back

Greg Gautreaux, NFL Official

Devery Henderson, NFL Wide Receiver

Cupid, famous R&B singer; wrote "Cupid Shuffle"

Ambrose Stearns, Football Player Residents
Other notable current and former 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 recipient

Kathleen Blanco, former Louisiana governor

Marc Broussard, musician

Kody Chamberlain, comic book writer and artist

Hollis Conway, Olympic medalist

Aaron Dalbec, musician

Jake Delhomme, NFL quarterback

Ernest Gaines, acclaimed writer

Ben Earl Looney (deceased), acclaimed painter originally from Webster Parish

Elizabeth McNulty, Miss Louisiana 2007

Louis J. Michot, businessman, former state education superintendent and state representative

Nick Rees, NFL running back, Green Bay Packers

Michael J. Michot, businessman and state Senator from Lafayette

Brian Mitchell, former NFL running back, special teams returner

Brandon Stokley, NFL wide receiver

Javon Walker, NFL wide receiver Further Information

Get more info on 'Lafayette Louisiana'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://lafayette__louisiana.totallyexplained.com">Lafayette, Louisiana Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.