Freetown, Port Rico had front row seats to history

Editor's note: This article was written with help from the Lafayette City-Parish Planning Commission Lafayette IN a Century (LINC) documents and a neighborhood history provided by The Glenn Armentor Law Corporation, which is located in the historic Good Hope Hall.

One of the most culturally historic and interesting collections of Lafayette neighborhoods is across from the heart of downtown.

This residential area has had a front row seat to the development of Lafayette since its plantation days. It played its own important role in the history of Lafayette as well.

This historical area — now known as Freetown-Port Rico — stretches from Johnston Street to Pinhook Road and from the railroad tracks to University Avenue. This area, however, is not all Freetown-Port Rico but is actually made up of several residential neighborhoods.

Freetown

Perhaps, the most well known neighborhood of this area is Freetown. Once called the "Mouton Addition," Freetown is one of the original subdivisions in Lafayette. The land for this particular neighborhood was part of Governor Alexandre Mouton's plantation, Ile Copal. You may remember Alexandre Mouton as the son of Jean Mouton. Ile Copal was where "free men of color" worked and lived.

Before the Civil War, many freed slaves settled in this area along with a diverse mix of lower and middle-class Caucasians leading to its present-day, more popular name — Freetown. It was possible for the enslaved African-Americans of the South to purchase their own freedom, for instance, through extra work done on their rare free time. Many also were set free by planters in return for several decades of good work. This area thrived with various cultures including African, Cajun, Lebanese and Middle Eastern, Greek, Spanish and Irish.

Historians have described Freetown and its surrounding neighborhoods as a community of residents that took care of each other. In fact, these residents formed an organization called the True Friends Society in an effort to protect members of the community from the Ku Klux Klan. Documentation provided through history shows the True Friends Society was surprisingly accurate at determining the next planned strike of the Klan and stopped strikes by gathering at the homes of the family to be targeted. These were horrific scenes of heated displays with pick-axes, shovels and sharpened farm implements, as well as pistols and muskets. These battles occurred for over a decade during this period and throughout this time, many residents were protected from the Klan by the True Friends Society.

Port Rico

One of the other main neighborhoods included in this area is Port Rico, which is a corruption of "Porto-Rico". This neighborhood got its name because Porto Rico was the type of sugar cane grown in the fields when this area was only farmland. Much like Freetown, this neighborhood has supported and sustained a diverse population that continues today.

In the 1920's, residents would gather at the Good Hope Hall to hear jazz performers from around the country. In a truly unique situation in the United States, at the time, only African‐Americans were permitted inside the Good Hope Hall, so many white residents would gather outside of the hall to listen to the music.

These neighborhoods began a tradition in Lafayette of looking out for one another while blending the diverse cultures maintaining cultural identities in one small area.

In next week's column, we'll share more about the history of the Good Hope Hall and its role in the making of Lafayette.

Kate Durio always can be found Downtown where she lives, works and loves celebrating Acadiana Culture (which she thinks is the best in the world). She can also be found producing Downtown Alive!, ArtWalk, Movies in the Parc and many community improvement shenanigans while sending snail mail and going to the public library.