Carencro, Louisiana

Carencro (; historically ) is a city in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Lafayette. The population was 7,526 at the 2010 census, up from 6,120 in 2000; at the 2020 census, its population was 9,272. The name of the city is derived from the Cajun French word for buzzard; the spot where the community was settled was one where large flocks of American black vultures roosted in the bald cypress trees. The name means "carrion crow." Carencro is part of the Lafayette metropolitan area.

Etymology

Many senior Carencro natives attest that the town's name originates from before the American Civil War. According to this local legend, Native Americans told Vermilionville settlers that in old times a large number of "carrion crows" (vultures, called carencro in French) had settled around the Vermilion River between Lafayette and Opelousas, Louisiana to feast on a fish die-off.

There is a related theory, consistent with the spelling, that the place is named for the carencro tête rouge, a red-headed buzzard referred to by European explorers as early as 1699, and described in 1774 by Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. Du Pratz described the bird as having black plumage and a head covered with red flesh. He said the Spanish government protected the birds, "for as they do not use the whole carcass of the buffaloes which (the Spaniards) kill, those birds eat what they leave, which otherwise, by rotting on the ground, would ... infect the air."

In a letter written on April 23, 1802, Martin Duralde, a former commandant of the Opelousas post, related the legend as it had come down from an Attakapas Indian. Duralde wrote:<blockquote> "Many years before the discovery of the elephant in the bayou called an Attakapas savage had informed a man who is at present in my service in the capacity of cow-herd that the ancestors of his nation transmitted (the story) to their descendants that a beast of enormous size had perished either in this bayou or in one of the two water courses a short distance from it without their being able to indicate the true place, the antiquity of the event having without doubt made them forget it."</blockquote> (Note: The mastodon became extinct 4500–10,000 years ago)

A late 19th-century account stated the legend came from buzzards (vultures) feasting on a mastodon carcass. Its fossilized bones were reportedly discovered and collected by a French naturalist in the 18th century and shipped to the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, but the ship was wrecked on the way, and the bones were lost at sea. The only relic of the mastodon was a femur or leg bone, which was kept by an early settler, the first Guilbeau. He used it as a pestle to bruise indigo for processing, a crop then cultivated in the Attakapas Indian country. The Indians termed the birds carecros; and from the spot where the mastodon died, the river takes the name of Bayou Carencro.

First called St. Pierre, in the late 19th century, the town was renamed Carencro, after the "carrion crow" (vulture) legend. Although Carencro's current town center lies well west of the Vermilion River, this legend has permanence within the community.

Some people think that the name comes from the Spanish carnero, meaning "bone pile." This idea also comes from the mastodon legend, and the idea that the buzzards left nothing but a pile of white bones after they had picked the mastodon clean. and has an elevation of . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+Carencro racial composition

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 4,002

| 43.16%

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 4,339

| 46.8%

!scope="row"| Native American

| 24

| 0.26%

!scope="row"| Asian

| 88

| 0.95%

!scope="row"| Pacific Islander

| 6

| 0.06%

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 326

| 3.52%

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 487

| 5.25%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 9,272 people, 3,533 households, and 1,980 families residing in the city. According to the 2019 American Community Survey, its racial and ethnic makeup was 52.1% non-Hispanic white, 46.0% Black and African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 1.1% some other race, and 0.3% two or more races. The median household income was $39,162 and 19.0% of the population lived at or below the poverty line.

At the 2000 U.S. census, there were 6,120 people, 2,237 households, and 1,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,401 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 56.37% White, 42.19% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latin Americans of any race were 1.09% of the population.

There were 2,237 households, out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were married couples living together, 21.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 30.2% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $22,716, and the median income for a family was $27,539. Males had a median income of $27,879 versus $21,496 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,491. About 24.1% of families and 29.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.6% of those under age 18 and 27.1% of those age 65 or over.

Carencro, Louisiana

Etymology

Demographics

Sister city

See also

References

External links