Abbeville

History

Formerly called La Chapelle, the land that became Abbeville was purchased by founding father Père Antoine Désiré Mégret ("Père" is French for "Father"), a Capuchin missionary on July 25, 1843, for $900. There are two hypotheses as to how the town was named. The more generally accepted hypothesis is that Mégret named the town after his home in France. The second hypothesis states that it is a combination of "Abbé" (the French word for "Abbot") for Abbé Mégret, and "ville" (the French word for "Town") – hence Abbé's town. Some support for the second theory can be found in the fact that the town in France is pronounced differently (as "Abbville") by its denizens. However, in 1995, Jean Desobry discovered in the diocesan archives of Amiens evidence that Antoine Jacques Désiré Mégret was born on May 23, 1797, in Abbeville, France, thus confirming the first hypothesis. Dr Mary-Theresa MacCarthy wrote in her article Un Autre Abbeville in the 1996 edition of Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie (translation by Father Hebert), On February 12, 1844, the pastor gave to his American town the name of the town of his birth. Residents find this name especially fitting because of the French word abbé which means father [or priest] added to the French word ville [which means town]. Their Abbeville is truly la ville de l'abbé [the priest's town]. Father Megret modeled his original plan for the village after a French Provincial village. In a map he designed in 1846, the town was 38 to in size. It was bounded on the north by St. Victor Boulevard, on the south by Lafayette Boulevard, on the east by "the Sisters of Charity", and on the west by Bayou Vermilion. At this point in time the town was called "Abbville". The center of downtown is Magdalen Square, which is accented…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (0.53%) is water. Abbeville is located near the southern terminus of U.S. Highway 167. Abbeville Chris Crusta Memorial Airport is in the eastern part of the city. The Vermilion River runs through downtown, and several canals and coulees run through other parts of Abbeville. Abbeville has a humid subtropical climate in common with the rest of Louisiana. It typically experiences long, hot and very humid summers and brief, cool but quite windy winters, and mild to warm temperatures during spring and autumn. Precipitation is relatively heavy by world standards and falls throughout the year, but peaks between June and September which see twice the amount of rainy days than winter. June to September is also, while hot, cloudier than the rest of year with clear and sunny skies being most common in the autumn.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,314
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,053
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  995
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  988
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  961
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  955
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  861
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  814