History
Booklet History of Ville Platte 150 Year Sesquicentennial Special Edition
First Form of Government
The small hamlet of Ville Platte was incorporated March 16, 1858 by an act of the legislature. By the provisions of this act, the town was to be one mile square, having a point in the middle of the actual public road leading from Opelousas to Alexandria opposite Marcel Daire's store as its center. The town governing body consisted of five councilmen, elected each year. They were given the power to levy and collect taxes, to impose fines for delinquencies; and to pass and establish all such laws and regulations relating to the local polices and government of the said town. However, such laws, rules, and regulations were not to be repugnant to the Constitution and Laws of the State of Louisiana and those of the United States. The Council was not permitted to impose a fine in excess of $15.00, and its power to levy taxes within the corporate limits was not to exceed 25c on every $100.00 of assessed valuation approved by the state. They were prohibited from imposing a higher annual tax on all stores, public houses, merchants and retailers than the taxes imposed by the state for and during the same year.
Twinning Agreements - Ville Platte and Durbuy, Belgium (1986)
The Word Cajun
The word "Cajun" is [derived from] the word "ACADIAN," starting off, in the French of course, "Acadien…Cadien…Cadjin…and in English, "Cajun". The word "Acadian" describes the 17th and 18th Century inhabitant of an area in eastern Canada called Acadia or, in French, Acadie. The popular meaning for the word "Acadie" is "earthly paradise," taken from the language of the Micmac Indians, who inhabited the area at the time. Acadia was comprised of what is today New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and parts of the state of Maine.
The word "Cajun" did not come into being until sometime in the late 18th Century and is strictly a South Louisiana word. Up to World War II the word "Cajun" was somewhat of a source of embarrassment and ridicule. This came about because it suggested "a poor and uneducated person who spoke mostly French and some, if any, broken English." It was not until the late 1940's and early 1950's that the Cajun population realized that this negative attitude was causing the eradication of their culture and the lost (sic) of their identity as an ethnic group. Through the efforts of many concerned people and organizations, a movement was designed to turn the negativism (sic) around into positive thinking and encourage proud feelings about the history and culture of their ancestors and the preservation of their French language. The heart of the Cajun culture is its language. This is on-going.