Bicentennial trivia

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

Enjoy history? Like trivia? You’ve come to the right place.

Because each week in the St. Charles Herald-Guide, we publish seven new historical tidbits in honor of St. Charles Parish’s Bicentennial Year. Here goes:

1. In 1953 the parish had no hospital, but there were two health clinics, one on each side of the river. The construction of a hospital was in the works but wouldn’t be given the go ahead until 1958.

2. In 1954 the parish got its first library overseen by librarian Charlotte Gaylord. It housed 8,000 books.3. After years of segregation, the integration of white and black schools began in 1965.

4. In 1968 the parish received its first junior high schools, J.B Martin Junior High in Paradis and New Sarpy Middle School.

5. In 1969 the parish erected a monument in front of the courthouse that honored the men killed in the Vietnam War.

6. In 1966 St. Charles Parish was one of 19 sugar cane producing parishes in Louisiana.

7. In addition to sugar cane farming, a popular parish vocation in the 1960s was fishing - especially in the Des Allemands community.