Vinton, Louisiana


Vinton is a town in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,212 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The Old Spanish Trail, which was neither old nor Spanish, wandered north and south of what is now U.S. Highway 90, in large part because of the unstable roadbed. The chief means of outside travel in the parish relied on riverboats plying the Sabine and Calcasieu rivers. Much of the marsh and bayous remained impassable. River travel made Lake Charles possible, just as mining for sulfur led to the founding of Sulphur. Settlers had long been in the Vinton area.
Jean Baptise Granger settled acreage between what is now Vinton and Big Woods about 1827, one of the first pioneers of the area. Even so, the area remained sparsely populated.
The area had few settlers because France, New Spain, and Mexico disputed the western boundary of Louisiana for many years. When the United States made the Louisiana Purchase, the disputed area was inherited. Spanish Lt. Col. Simón de Herrera and U.S. General James Wilkinson signed an agreement designating the area as neutral ground, also known as the Neutral Strip. The agreement was not a treaty and not ratified by either government, but it was respected by both countries. The area, sometimes referred to as the Rio Hondo Territory, was off limits to the military of both countries, and settlers were not to be allowed, but that did not stop squatters from both countries.
There had been numerous attempts to improve transportation throughout the 19th century. In the 1830s, on the nearby Sabine River, Dr. Robert Neblett developed a bluff into a thriving river port, which became known as Niblett's Bluff west of the present-day town. Confederate soldiers in 1863 cut a military road extending from Niblett's Bluff on the Sabine River to Alexandria. Although the road never developed into a major artery, during the American Civil War, Niblett's Bluff became Fort Niblett, which assisted the Confederate success in the Battle of Mansfield. Fort Niblett continues to be commemorated as part of Niblett's Bluff Park, supported by local taxes.
The parish and Vinton itself might have remained an undeveloped rural backwater without two signal events. The first, which had the greatest material impact on the entire community, was the decision by J. Pierpont Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad Company to construct a railroad from New Orleans to Beaumont, Texas. The second and most important for Vinton was the arrival of a physician and former professor from Indiana and Iowa, Dr. Seaman A. Knapp. The economy of the town was further diversified and strengthened by the discovery of petroleum at Ged Lake.

Logging trains

Timber brought the railroad. The part of Louisiana that included Calcasieu Parish was home to the finest longleaf pine in the world. When combined with the stands of cypress and other hardwood lumber, logging was a lucrative prospect. The railroad gave life to Vinton, starting with a switching track. Although there would be a depot later, Vinton began as a whistle stop called Blair. The source of the name is unknown. Some have speculated that the railroad siding took its name from a local family. However, no family named Blair was in residence in the area at that time.

Agriculture

Knapp completed the founding of Vinton. Precisely what brought him to Louisiana is unclear, but he certainly had a keen interest in agriculture, especially the improvement of farming methods. Formerly the president of the Iowa Agricultural College in Ames.
Watkins was a native of Lawrence, Kansas, who came to Lake Charles in 1883. Using English capital, Watkins bought of prairie and marshland in southwest Louisiana. To bring in settlers, he advertised in newspapers across the nation. It is assumed that Knapp was one of the settlers that Watkins attracted to the area. It is also assumed that Knapp was the leading force behind the first settler in what would become the township of Vinton.
Knapp purchased from the US government the tract of land that would form the basis of the town. At the time, he paid $2.50 an acre. On October 17, 1887, Robert F. Evans, also an Iowa native, purchased an additional. The sources are unclear if the acreage was then sold to Knapp or to George Horridge. The records nonetheless show that the Southern Real Estate and Guaranty Company had bought all the land tracts by April 1889. The land was divided into lots and sold at prices ranging between $10 and $25 each. In time, 30 blocks extended the original 12-block plot of land. When the post office was registered with the US Postmaster General, Vinton, Knapp's Iowa hometown, was chosen as the name of the settlement, but when the Postmaster designated the name, he left no explanation for his choice so there is some doubt about the origin of the name. In a 2013 article on the town, the Advocate asserted that Knapp indeed named Vinton, Louisiana, "after his hometown of Vinton, Iowa."
It is possible that Knapp was responsible for the large influx of settlers from Vinton, Iowa. The Horridge, Stevenson, Eddie, Ferguson, Stockwell, Morgan, Nelson, Fairchild, Banker, Hall, and Haskill families were Iowa transplants. Some streets still bear the name of those families. Shortly after construction of the first homes came a sawmill, the Methodist Church, and the first public school building. In 1890, Mrs. Mabel K. Kelly became the first teacher in Vinton. A larger school replaced the older structure in 1901.

Petroleum

Between the initial founding of the settlement and its incorporation is an extraordinary event. The winter of 1895 brought a surprise. On February 14–15, the edge of the worst blizzard in American history touched southwestern Louisiana. A record of snow fell on Lake Charles. Some areas reported snowfall between. In Vinton, the blizzard crippled the new sheep industry, and the farmers salvaged what they could by shaving wool from the dead flocks.
Despite the setback caused by the storm, the town grew steadily, aided by the oil boom following the discovery of petroleum reserves at Ged Lake, about south of Vinton, along Ged Road.

Geography

Vinton is located in western Calcasieu Parish at . U.S. Route 90 passes through the center of town, and Interstate 10 runs along the southern edge, with access from exits 7 and 8. Sulphur, Louisiana, is to the east, and Orange, Texas, is the same distance to the west.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Vinton has a total area of, of which is land and, or 1.01%, is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,338 people, 1,239 households, and 900 families residing in the town. The population density was 688.5 people per square mile. There were 1,452 housing units at an average density of 299.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 74.57% White, 23.31% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.09% from other races, and 1.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.90% of the population.
There were 1,239 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.3% were non-families. 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the town, the population was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $26,556, and the median income for a family was $30,565. Males had a median income of $30,600 versus $14,661 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,302. About 18.2% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 17.3% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people