History of Larose

After graduating from Nicholls in 2013, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life. My mom, Deanna “Tootsie” Crosby, always told me to do whatever it is that I truly loved and enjoyed. That was when I quit my job working in a traditional field to pursue my passion in the film industry and never looked back. I enjoyed it, sure, but what I truly love is Bayou Lafourche and Louisiana as a whole. Of course, Louisiana isn’t perfect, but love isn’t perfect. It breaks your heart when things aren’t the way you expect them to be. It takes time to cultivate. It challenges you every step of the way. It also motivates you to be better when all you want to do is lay down and give up. This series on Bayou Lafourche is dedicated to my mom Tootsie, my late father, Kelly Crosby, my entire family from Grand Isle to Thibodaux, and all of the incredibly resilient and lovely people of the bayou. This is home and this is my love letter to you in the hopes that it will keep you curious and motivated to learn our epic and significant history that is often overlooked in favor of other areas. Always remember that WE are some of the last true examples of authentic Louisiana culture and it must never die.

Our first location is Larose. Larose is characterized by the intersection of Bayou Lafourche to the Intracoastal Waterway, which is an over 1000 mile canal stretching from Carrabelle, FL to Brownsville, TX connecting many important waterways for recreational and cargo ships. However, here it started as more of a ditch and as owners took it over, they would dredge the canal and expand it.

In 1846 Octave Harang purchased this land from Francois Livaudais and constructed a prosperous sugar plantation known as Harang Plantation. Octave then had a ditch dug to connect Bayou Lafourche to Lake Salvador. This opened the door for farmers in the area to ship oranges, sugar, rice, and potatoes to markets in New Orleans. A few owners would dredge the canal to be deeper and wider over the years, but it would still end in Larose at the bayou until WW2. In order for quicker shipments of oil, the US government dredged across Bayou Lafourche towards Bourg and created the iconic “cloverleaf” image we associate with Larose today.

In 1882, a small school was established and the population grew  to the point when the first physician set up shop and his name was Willie Harang. Willie soon convinced a pharmacist friend of his to make his way down from Lockport to permanently live in this new community. The pharmacist was named Joseph Felicien Larose and began to act as the unofficial postmaster for the area. It is said that when residents received mail, they would tell the sender to “send it to Larose”. In 1890, Larose requested permission from the post office to establish an official service in his drug store thus the name stuck. 

Joseph Larose, was the grandson of Balthasar Martin Larose who came to Bayou Lafourche by way of Portugal. That’s right. Originally pronounced LaRosa, most Larose descendants probably don’t realize their ancestors are Portuguese as early settlers adopted the French pronunciation, which means “the rose”. 

Some of these early residents cite the establishment of the Catholic Parish as being the main reason for the growth of Larose. The church was called Notre Dame du Sainte Rosarie, but was destroyed in the hurricane of 1909 and subsequent flood. Another church was built and 60 years after its founding, was refitted with bricks and it is now Holy Rosary Catholic Church. By the mid 1920s, electricity finally arrived down the bayou, which was perfect to light the newly built baseball fields where the Larose Tigers played. In 1978, Holy Rosary leased out land to build the Larose Regional Park and Civic Center where I would play in biddy basketball games, recreation, and karate classes. It is also the site of an annual French Food Festival that hosts one of the largest varieties of Louisiana cuisine in any festival as well as concerts and rides. 

The four bridges that link the cloverleaf of Larose together have had some changes over the years, but one thing has remained constant: waiting for the Larose bridge on Louisiana Highway 1 has become a right of passage for residents Down the Bayou. Its positioning between 2 large shipyards, it was destined for the bridge to delay traffic, which also helped local businesses at the base of the bridge. If you don’t catch this bridge while you’re down here, then your destination needs to be a gas station to buy a lottery ticket. Unless, of course, you take the other option… 

Only 30 feet taller than the lift bridge, this overpass was completed 15 years later in 1975. While the lift bridge runs along the famous and historic Louisiana Highway 1, the overpass is a part of Highway 308. This bridge allows you to cross the 150ft wide Intracoastal Canal with ease, and has a peculiar sight at the top. The Lafitte-Larose freeway was proposed in the 1970s that would’ve linked the two communities but was ultimately canceled due to environmental concerns. On a clear day, if you look into the horizon towards the East, you can see the New Orleans skyline Superdome and all. Despite taking over an hour to drive here from the city, Larose and the bayou is only 15 miles as the pelican flies. 

Essentially, the story of Larose is intertwined with the connection of this bayou and canal and continues to be a place of Cajun culture and resiliency through the many storms that have hit the area. Larose and other down the bayou towns were utterly devastated following Hurricane Ida. Help and assistance federally was like getting your teeth pulled, however, the intense resolve of this community facilitated a massive local recovery effort. Non-profits like Bless Your Heart Foundation and DTB Mutual Aid Fund were vital in raising awareness and funding for the storm victims. The community stepped up in the darkest hour, and after a ton of work, Larose is still here and businesses are open, but the storm needs to be a wake up call to everyone nationwide to preserve the culture and history that we still have on Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou. I’m Kyle Crosby and this is Louisiana Dread.

This information was gathered from multiple sources found in the Nicholls Library as well as online. Some notable sources are “Longest Street : a History of Lafourche Parish and Grand Isle” by Tanya B Ditto, “The Lafourche Country: The People And The Land” by Philip Uzee, “Glimpses of Black Life along Bayou Lafourche: Brief Stories of How Black People Lived, Worked, and Succeeded During Challenging Times” by Curtis J. Johnson, and “Plantation Homes of the Lafourche Country” by Paul F. Stahls Jr.