Morehouse Parish History

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Morehouse Parish History

The recorded history of Morehouse Parish begins about 1762. Fur trappers used
Bayou Bartholomew, Bayou Boeuf, and Bayou Lafourche to travel through the
area. 

DeSoto, La Salle, De Tonti, Bienville, Delaharpe may have all traveled through
the Parish prior to 1762 in their quests for gold and other riches. 

In an attempt to hold the area the Governor of Mexico devised a plan to settle
the land west of the Mississippi. In 1795 the Spanish gave a land grant to
Baron de Bastrop. In return the Baron de Bastrop promised to bring 500
settlers to the area and build and operate a grist mill. This was one of many
futile efforts to keep the Americans from spreading west. Now many historians
believe it helped open the south west to settlement. 

In 1798, the Baron de Bastrop contracted with Colonel Abraham Morehouse to
bring settlers to the area. Colonel Morehouse sold 90 tracts of land to help
settle the area. One of these settlers was Captain Davenport. He establish
Praire Mer Rouge as the first settlement in the Parish. The first store was
opened around 1830 at Point Pleasant. 

The Parish of Morehouse was created in 1844 by legislative act. The parish
seat was selected as a road intersection. These roads are today called
Washington and Madison. They are two of the four roads that surround the
courthouse in Bastrop. The city of Bastrop was established in 1852.