Crowley, Louisiana
Population: 14,225
Located in Acadia Parish
Along a canopy of oak trees, tour our acclaimed Historic District which boasts of over 200 homes and buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. These homes are of the Victorian, Queen Anne era and encompass about 33 blocks. Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish, in the heart of the rice growing belt of Southwest Louisiana, was the only town in the parish that did not develop naturally. Crowley was totally planned and founded by two brothers, C.C. and W.W. Duson, with the financial backing of a group of St. Landry parish businessmen in 1886. Crowley was named for Pat Crowley, the Irish contractor who graded the roadbed for the Southern Pacific Railroad through Acadia Parish. The railroad had placed a switch, or spur tracts, on property near the present site and as a courtesy to the contractor, named it the Crowley Switch. The switch played an important role in the development of the new town, which was situated in the middle of a treeless prairie. All of the construction material was first brought in on the switch. W.W. and C.C. Duson were enterprising brothers and dreamers of the practical sort. In July of 1881, they rode on the recently completed Louisiana Western Railroad across a dry prairie. Geographically, this was hardly an inviting area in which to begin a town. But in addition to their energy and motivations, the brothers were also visionaries. They saw a thriving community that would someday contribute significantly to Louisiana and the rest of the country. Crowley's birth date is January 4, 1887. Not many towns know the exact day of their birth, but Crowley does. She was conceived in the mind of one W. W. Duson and was carved deliberately out of 174 acres in the heart of the prairie country of Southwest Louisiana. Duson and his brother saw an opportunity for people to come and start a new life in a new land. And so, the people came, 240 in 1890 to 6,000 by 1917. People came from all over the United States. Why? Some came for the sheer adventure of pioneering a town. Others came to build a home and still others came because the prairie was well suited for agriculture, especially rice.
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