History
The exact origin of the name "Parks" is somewhat of a mystery. Although some residents seem to think that it had something to do with the railroad, one story states the first train to pass through the community arrived on Easter Sunday. When the train engineer, who apparently did not speak or understand French, inquired about the name of the settlement, the residents replied "C'est Pacques" (it's Easter). The train engineer thought he understood the word Parks, and the name apparently stuck.
Parks, originally called Potier, lies in the area previously known as La Pointe District, which existed in 1765. It was also called La Pointe de Repose, supposedly because the cowhands in the early 19th century drove their cattle into the cul-de-sac formed by the sharp bend of the bayou on round up time.
Settlement began in the Parks village shortly after 1900. Around that time, Paul Melancon purchased a large tract of land in the vicinity of what is now Parks in order to establish a cotton farm. But, shortly after buying the property, he decided to divide a portion into town lots and the community took shape. In 1908, the village of 330 acres was incorporated. Since that time, Parks has remained approximately the same size.
Read more about this topic: Parks, Louisiana
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)