Bicentennial trivia

... celebrating SC Parish’s 200th B-day

You can be a Herald-Guide Bicentennial supermodel like Chasidy Fonseca. E-mail heatherb@heraldguide.com and we’ll arrange to make you famous, too. New model each week.

In honor of St. Charles Parish’s Bicentennial year, the Herald-Guide will feature seven trivia tidbits about the parish in weekly installments through Dec. 31, 2007. Ready? Read on:

1. In 1902 St. Charles Parish enjoyed the infusion of a new ethnic group, the Italians, who lived in old abandoned cabins but were quick to start their own businesses.

2. From 1930 to 1960, the non-white population decreased from 37 percent to 27 percent after many people of color moved to New Orleans for better opportunities.

3. The number of farms in the sugarcane and cattle business soared in the early 1900s, and totaled 328 by 1935.

4. In 1943 Edward A. Dufresne purchased Ashton Plantation, which was the largest plantation to be owned by a individual at the time.

5. In 1952 the largest wooden-match manufacturing plant, Delta Match Corporation ,opened on the east bank of the parish.

6. After the American Oil Company closed in 1958, the parish didn't see another industrial surge until 1961 when the Bunge Grain Elevator opened in Destrehan.

7. The St. Charles Herald was sold in 1954 by the Triche family to Henry E. Yoes Jr. after 63 years of ownership.