Welsh is a town in Jefferson Davis Parish,

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 ...

. The population was 3,226 at the time of the 2010 census. It is part of the

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Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Welsh was originally a homestead owned by Miles Welsh, a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

man who went to Louisiana to seek a warmer climate for his health. He died in 1868, but his son Henry built a cabin on the current-day town site. The home sat along the main

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

route across south Louisiana, and Welsh's home and store was the primary stop for travelers between

New Iberia New Iberia (; ) is the largest city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lafayette, and forms part of ...

and

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. In 1880, Welsh donated right-of-way to the Louisiana Western Rail Road (later Southern Pacific), which built a station. The town of Welsh was platted in 1880 and incorporated on March 15, 1888, with Henry Welsh elected its first mayor a few months before his death that October. Initially part of the old Imperial Calcasieu Parish, in 1913 Welsh became part of the newly established Jefferson Davis Parish.

Geography

Welsh is located at (30.237419, -92.820593). According to the

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, the town has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16.4 km), of which 6.2 square miles (16.1 km) is land and 0.1 square mile (0.3 km) (1.89%) is water.

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,333 people, 1,128 households, and 765 families residing in the town.

Notable people

* Canray Fontenot (1922–1995), Creole fiddler * Lance Guidry (born 1971),

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach, former

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for the

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* Phillip Walker (1937–2010),

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

guitarist and singer * Charles Mann,

swamp pop Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, Country music, countr ...

legend and member of the

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the sta ...

* Milton Vanicor (master fiddler/musician) Inducted in the Cajun French Music Hall of Fame in 2006

Education

Jefferson Davis Parish Public Schools operates public schools in Welsh. Schools serving Welsh includ
Welsh Elementary School
(PK–5) in Welsh, Welsh - Roanoke Jr. High (6–8) in nearby Roanoke, and Welsh High School (9–12) in Welsh. Jefferson Davis Parish Library operates the McBurney Memorial Branch at 301 South Sarah Street.

References