The rural west bank parish of St. John the Baptist is about to clear the first hurdle on the way to receiving the country’s most prestigious historic award.
The National Park Service has released a preliminary study examining whether the 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River is eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark District. The designation is reserved for places of “exceptional historic” significance that help tell the story of the United States, such as George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon or the French Quarter in New Orleans.
The study examined the West Bank’s more than 250-year history and concluded that the region’s rich history makes it eligible for recognition at the local, state and federal levels.
While much of the Mississippi from Baton Rouge to New Orleans is industrialized, the west bank of St. John is one of the longest stretches of the river without heavy industry. The study calls the area “remarkably unique” not only because of its agricultural landscape or farming, but also because of its culture and people.
Brian Davis, director of the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation, pushed for the federal government to consider this remote area as a monument, calling it “a rare survivor” in Mississippi’s industrial corridor.
“There hasn’t been a lot of disruption from industry or other activities,” Davis said. “That’s what’s kept this in a bit of a time warp, but it’s also helped preserve the very strong historic buildings and the character of the whole area and the culture.”
Due to the lack of industrial development, the area serves as a virtually untouched window into past eras of European settlement, slavery and Reconstruction, as well as the history of the sugar industry.
The West Bank stretches from Vacherie to Lucy, with several small communities in between. Joy Banner is a West Bank native who led the effort to connect the Park Service with preservation groups like Davis’s. Her family, like many others in the area, has lived in the area for generations and is descended from the black Americans who were enslaved on the plantations nearby.
She founded a nonprofit called the Descendants Project with her sister in 2021 with the goal of preserving and promoting descendant communities like her own. Her group has submitted research on the area’s history as part of the Park Service’s study.
“I can’t imagine they don’t recognize the beauty, the importance, the uniqueness and the possibilities that are attracting worldwide attention,” Banner said.
The idea gained traction after a company planned to build a 275-foot-tall grain elevator several hundred yards from homes in Wallace, their west bank community. The Banners and other residents opposed to the project set up several roadblocks to delay the project, fearing it would become a gateway for more factories. Although industrial development is possible in heritage districts, projects would be subject to more scrutiny to ensure they do not compromise the integrity of the landscape.
The grain elevator project was canceled last week in the middle of a lengthy permitting process by the Army Corps of Engineers after the company failed to adequately consider the impacts on cultural resources and nearby plantation museums.
The state has designated several parts of the West Bank as “opportunity zones” to encourage industrial development. Banner and Davis hope that if the West Bank is granted natural monument status, it could benefit from other forms of economic development, such as tourism or film.
The prospect of a grain elevator divided opinion in the region about what the future of the West Bank should look like.
Some say that despite the pollution, the West Bank should benefit from the tax revenues generated by its industrial facilities like its neighbors on the eastern bank.
Kim Mathieu lives in Lucy and used to work for several large factories. He supports the preservation of the area because he believes the absence of industry is what makes it special. That’s why he moved back home.
“This is the last place where there were no plants. Therefore, we had practically clean air and no noise pollution,” said Mathieu.
If the area is declared a landmark, the designation would also give residents access to new tax and grant programs to help them maintain their properties.
The extensive process to become a landmark takes two to five years. The National Park Service is accepting public comments on its draft study until the end of August.
