Poydras High School was a school located on

Louisiana Highway 1 Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is a state highway in Louisiana. At , it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana. It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil and gas fields near the island of Grand Isle with the no ...

in the city of

New Roads New Roads (historically french: Poste-de-Pointe-Coupée) is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana was located in New Roads in 2000. T ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The building formerly housing the school now houses the local historical society.

History

The school came into existence, in the early 19th century, in the form of several public schools in the parish known as "Poydras Schools". They were so named for

Julien Poydras Julien de Lallande (Lalande) Poydras (April 3, 1740 – June 23, 1824) was a French American merchant, planter, financier, poet, educator and political leader who served as Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the U.S. House of Represen ...

, a local planter, statesman, literary figure, and philanthropist, who contributed financially to their creation. At the time, these were the only public schools in Louisiana. These early public schools have caused some academics to refer to Pointe Coupee Parish as "the cradle of Louisiana public education." In 1809, Governor Claiborne wrote "In the Parish of Pointe Coupee provisions have been made for the support of two or more schools, but the other parishes do not seem dissuaded to imitate so worthy an example". In 1811, these public "Poydras Schools" began receiving public funds. In 1829, Poydras founded the first endowed Louisiana college when he bequeathed money for the establishment of a school in New Roads. The school was called Poydras College, and was located three and a half miles south west of New Roads, along False River. In 1861, the song "

Maryland, My Maryland "Maryland, My Maryland" was the state song of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1939 until 2021. The song is set to the melody of "Lauriger Horatius" — the same tune "O Tannenbaum" was taken from. The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by ...

" was written by

James Ryder Randall James Ryder Randall (January 1, 1839 – January 15, 1908) was an American journalist and poet. He is best remembered as the author of "Maryland, My Maryland". Biography Randall was born on January 1, 1839 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was named ...

, who was at the time employed as an English professor at Poydras College. The college closed in 1861 with the coming of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. It reopened in 1873 as Poydras Academy, a Catholic girls' school. In 1923, due to financial issues, Poydras Academy was taken over by the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board. The school was renamed Poydras High School, and in 1924, a new building was constructed with funds bequeathed to the parish by

. This Poydras High School building is located at 460 W. Main Street, in downtown New Roads. It was a high school in the

Pointe Coupee Parish Pointe Coupee Parish ( or ; french: Paroisse de la Pointe-Coupée) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,802; in 2020, its population was 20,758. The parish seat is New Roads. Pointe ...

Public School system until after the 1980–81 school year, when the high school was closed. This closure left Rosenwald High School as the only public high school in New Roads until it was converted to an elementary school in 1991. After being closed as a high school, the old high school building continued in use as home to Poydras Elementary School until the early 1990s. The building is now the Julien Poydras Museum and Cultural Center, owned by the Pointe Coupée Historical Society. The old building houses office spaces as well as banquet rooms that are available to be rented. The front lawn includes the grave of Julien Poydras as well as a monument in his honor.

References

External links

* {{authority control Defunct high schools in Louisiana Educational institutions established in 1923 School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana 1923 establishments in Louisiana