ESTHER : 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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ESTHER 

Esther is located just south of Big Woods, at the junction of Hwy. 82 
and Hwy. 333. 

One of the earliest settlers in Esther was W. W. Kuehling, who operated 
a general store. He was born in Virginia in 1849 and moved to Vermilion 
Parish in 1872. He would become sheriff of the parish 10 years later. 

Kuehling married Leontine Loquex of New Orleans in 1881, and their 
daughter, Esther, was born in 1888. It is for her that the place was 
named when a post office was established there in 1899. 

Around 1905, a public school was constructed on property donated by 
Pierre Cessac, adjacent to the cemetery. The school was closed in 1933 
and the building put up for sale. The local Catholic congregation 
bought the building for $125 and moved it to the present site of St. 
James Chapel on land donated by Napoleon Broussard. The chapel was 
served by the pastor at Bancker. 

W. W. Kuehling's son, Robert, was a later postmaster at Esther and 
operated a general store there that became a common gathering place for 
the men of the community. The building later became known as John's 
Trading Post.