COW ISLAND: Vermilion Parish Towns & Cities, Louisiana
Submitted by Kathy LaCombe-Tell
Source: Jim Bradshaw; Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, 6/24/1997
Submitted August 2004

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COW ISLAND 

The first family to come to Cow Island was that of Pierre LaPoint, 
probably in the middle or late 1840s. He chose for his home a hill in 
the midst of a marsh where herds of wild cattle roamed. That's why he 
named the area Ile des Vache, which was later anglicized Cow Island. 
Within a few years there were also Gaspard, Broussard, and Nunez 
families at the place. 

In order to build their homes they had to buy the lumber from a sawmill 
in Abbeville and transport it by ox cart through the marsh. There were 
no stores there at first, so the people raised their own animals, grew 
their own vegetables and made their own clothing from homespun cotton. 

About 1900, three one-room schools were built at Cow Island: the 
Harrington School, the Odelon School, and the Broussard School, with 
each neighborhood hiring its own teacher. This went on until 1918, when 
the Cow Island community approved a tax to consolidate them in one 
school. It was named the Ernest Broussard Agriculture School, after 
Ernest Broussard, who lived in the community from 1850 to 1906. He 
raised a family of 10 children and was the owner of thousands of acres 
and large herds of cattle. In 1930, a school bus route was started from 
the E. Broussard School to Abbeville High School. Six years later, 
1936, a new building was constructed and E. Broussard became an 
approved high school. The first graduation exercises were held in 1938. 

The center of the community is St. Anne Catholic Church, which serves 
two missions: Immaculate Conception Chapel at Forked Island, and Sacred 
Heart Chapel at Pecan Island.