Egan is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

Acadia Parish Acadia Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 57,576. The parish seat and the most populous municipality is Crowley. The parish was founded from parts of St. Landry Parish in ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States, located between Crowley and

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...

along Louisiana Highway 100, approximately two and one-half miles north of Midland near Bayou Jonas. The community is a part of the Crowley Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 631. The community was named for William M. Egan, a businessman of

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish, Louisiana, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of ...

History

The town of Egan was first known as Jonas Cove. After the postmaster of the time, it became known as Regan for a short while. In 1899, the settlement acquired the name Canal Switch when canal workers for W. W. Duson built a warehouse for the convenience of rice farmers in the area. The Southern Pacific Railroad operated a switch there to handle shipping, hence the name. The final name change was in honor of William M. Egan, the president of the company that built the rice mill at Egan and developed the town.Fontenot, Mary.''Acadia Parish, Louisiana: Volume II''. The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1979, p. 244-247. In the early 1870s, roadbed for the Louisiana Western railroad was constructed from Lafayette to Egan. It later decided to re-route the railroad south of the Egan area to eliminate bridging across Bayous Plaquemine Brûlée and des Cannes. The roadbed, constructed by convict labor, remained and the dirt left from it was used to build Acadia Parish roads.

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

was constructed on, or nearly on, the old roadbed.Fontenot, Mary.''Acadia Parish, Louisiana''. The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1976, p. 199. In the spring of 1903, John W. Smith & Frank Scanlan purchased 600 acres from W. W. Duson for $30,000, comprising nearly all of the lots in the town. Smith & Scanlan owned a general merchandise store in Egan, known simply as the Smith & Scanlan store, which handled general merchandise, farm equipment, grain, & feed. The store burned down in February 1904, and was not rebuilt. The Smith & Scanlan store was not the first store of Egan, however; in 1901, A. Rose and Son operated a general store there. Other businessmen of Egan were G. E., Joe, E. D., & Frank Truax, brothers from Michigan who operated a sawmill some time before 1900. By 1902, the Truax Brothers general store was in operation, and it included a dance hall and a saloon. Later, the business was separated into two stores, operated by G. E. and E. D. Truax. In 1909, the E. D. Truax store also housed the post office. Other businesses in operation prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

were the J. J. Regan store and warehouse; J. N. and Dominique Leger's warehouse and feed company; the Egan branch of Farmer's Mercantile, operated by Armas Bourgeois, F. A. Roy, & Aurelien Hebert. The first church at Egan was constructed by the United Brethren in Christ Church in the summer of 1906.

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

of Egan attended Mass at the Iota church six miles north of the community. Early settlers of the Egan area were families of Regan, Trumps, Sensat, Leger, and Clements.

Demographics

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Acadia Parish, Louisiana Census-designated places in Louisiana