Ascension Parish, Louisiana

Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish
Parish
	Ascension Parish Courthouse in Donaldsonville
	Flag
	Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
	Louisiana's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 30°12′N 90°55′W / 30.2°N 90.91°W
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Founded	1807
Named for	Ascension of Jesus Christ
Seat	Donaldsonville
Largest city	Prairieville
Area
• Total	303 sq mi (780 km2)
• Land	290 sq mi (800 km2)
• Water	13 sq mi (30 km2) 3.75%
Population (2020)
• Total	126,500
• Density	420/sq mi (160/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional districts	2nd, 6th
Website	www.ascensionparish.net

Ascension Parish (French: Paroisse de l'Ascension; Spanish: Parroquia de la Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500.^[1] Its parish seat is Donaldsonville.^[2] The parish was created in 1807.^[3] Ascension Parish is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area.

Ascension Parish is one of the 22 parishes that make up Acadiana, the heartland of the Cajun people and their culture. This is exhibited by the prevalence of the French or Cajun French language heard throughout the parish, as well as the many festivals celebrated by its residents, including the Boucherie Festival, Lagniappe Music and Seafood Festival, Crawfish Festival, and the Jambalaya Festival.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] The largest incorporated city in Ascension Parish, Gonzales, is celebrated as the "Jambalaya Capital of the World".^[8]

History

Early European settlers of the area that was developed as Ascension and Gonzales were, for the most part, of French and Spanish ancestry. They settled among the Houma Indians who lived in the area.

Among the projects and plans carried out by Luis de Unzaga 'le Conciliateur' while he was governor of Louisiana between 1769 and 1777 was the promotion of new settlements by Europeans, among them were French Acadians and Malaga in the fertile Mississippi region and more specifically in the Unzaga Post or 'Puesto de Unzaga' that he created in 1771 in Pointe Coupee, the parish of Saint Gabriel in 1773 and Fort Manchac in 1776; the Ascension people occupied land at the confluence of the aforementioned European settlements.^[9]

During the historic 2016 Louisiana Floods, around one-third of all homes in Ascension Parish were flooded; 15,000 homes and businesses took on water, mostly in the Galvez-St. Amant area, prompting a visit to St. Amant by then-presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump.^[10]^[11]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 303 square miles (780 km²), of which 290 square miles (750 km²) is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) (4.2%) is water.^[12] It is the fourth-smallest parish in Louisiana by total area.

Waterways

Alligator Bayou
Amite River
Amite River Diversion Canal
Anderson Canal
Babin Canal
Bayou Antoine
Bayou Manchac
Bayou Narcisse
Bayou Pierre
Bayou Reponds Pas
Bayou Conway
Bayou Francois
Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Napoleon
Bayou Verret
Bayou Vicknair
Black Bayou
Blind River
Boudreau Bayou
Boyle Bayou
Braud Bayou
Cocodrie Bayou
Cotton Bayou
Crowley Ditch
Duckroost Bayou
Flat Lake
Grand Goudine Bayou
Hackett Canal
Heath Bayou
Henderson Bayou
Jim Bayou
Johnson Bayou
Lake Millet
Lake Villars
Laurel Ridge Canal
McCall Bayou
Mississippi River
Muddy Creek
New River
New River Canal
Old New River
Panama Canal
Pipeline Canal
Rocky Canal
Roddy Bayou
Saveiro Canal
Sides Bayou
Smith Bayou
Spanish Lake
Welsh Gully

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

Communities

Cities

Donaldsonville (parish seat)
Gonzales

Town

Sorrento

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1810	2,219	—
1820	3,728	68.0%
1830	5,246	40.7%
1840	6,951	32.5%
1850	10,752	54.7%
1860	11,484	6.8%
1870	11,577	0.8%
1880	16,895	45.9%
1890	19,545	15.7%
1900	24,142	23.5%
1910	23,887	−1.1%
1920	22,155	−7.3%
1930	18,438	−16.8%
1940	21,215	15.1%
1950	22,387	5.5%
1960	27,927	24.7%
1970	37,086	32.8%
1980	50,068	35.0%
1990	58,214	16.3%
2000	76,627	31.6%
2010	107,215	39.9%
2020	126,500	18.0%
U.S. Decennial Census^[13] 1790-1960^[14] 1900-1990^[15] 1990-2000^[16] 2010-2019^[17]

**Ascension Parish, Louisiana – Racial and Ethnic Composition**
(*NH = Non-Hispanic*)
*Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.*
Race / Ethnicity	Pop 2000^[18]	Pop 2010^[19]	Pop 2020^[20]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	58,378	75,949	79,645	76.18%	70.84%	62.96%
Black or African American alone (NH)	15,466	23,727	30,296	20.18%	22.13%	23.95%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	191	297	266	0.25%	0.28%	0.21%
Asian alone (NH)	249	995	1,681	0.32%	0.93%	1.33%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	18	61	32	0.02%	0.06%	0.03%
Some Other Race alone (NH)	40	133	355	0.05%	0.12%	0.28%
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH)	402	1,029	3,842	0.52%	0.96%	3.04%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	1,883	5,024	10,383	2.46%	4.69%	8.21%
Total	76,627	107,215	126,500	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

In 1810, the parish had a population of 2,219; since then, its population has steadily increased despite some decades of population decline. In 1900, the parish's population reached a first historic high of 24,142 before increasing again to 58,214 at the 1990 U.S. census. At the 2010 census, Ascension Parish's population grew to 107,215; and at the 2020 United States census, there were 126,500 people, 44,267 households, and 32,305 families residing in the parish.^[21]

Having historic settlement by French and Spanish colonials during the periods of French and Spanish Louisiana, Ascension Parish's racial and ethnic composition has remained predominantly non-Hispanic white throughout a portion of its history. With the greater diversification of the United States at the 2020 census,^[22]^[23] non-Hispanic white residents were 62.96% of the total population. Black or African American Louisianians and others made up 23.95% of the population, followed by Hispanics or Latinos of any race (8.21%), Asians (1.33%), multiracial Americans (3.32%), Native Americans (0.21%), and Pacific Islanders (0.03%).^[21]

Among its residents at the 2021 American Community Survey's 1-year estimates program, households had a median income of $72,662 and mean income of $92,143.^[24] Families had a median income of $85,632; married-couple families $111,445; and non-family households $32,498. Overall, residents of Ascension Parish are wealthier than nearby East Baton Rouge Parish.

Religiously and spiritually, Christianity is the dominant religion for the parish. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, the Roman Catholic Church was the single-largest Christian denomination for the parish, served primarily by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. The overall Catholic population in Ascension Parish was 39,260 in 2020. Non-denominational or inter-denominational Christian churches—whether independent Bible churches, United and Uniting, etc.—were the second largest Christian group in the parish with 9,430 members. Collectively, Baptists throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, and National Baptist Convention of America made up 5,043 religious adherents.^[25] Parish-wide Protestant statistics reflect an increase in non- or inter-denominational Christianity throughout Louisiana, outgrowing Methodism as the second-largest Protestant group for the state per the Association of Religion Data Archives 2020 religion census; the growth of non/inter-denominational Christianity for the area represented a broader trend nationwide, where the movement began to constitute the largest segment of American Protestantism.^[26]

Education

Ascension Parish School Board operates the local public schools. The parish is also home to private schools and—since 1998, to River Parishes Community College.

Media

Two newspapers are based in Ascension Parish's two cities, Donaldsonville and Gonzales. The Gonzales Weekly Citizen is a bi-weekly newspaper formed after the merger of The Gonzales Weekly (founded 1920) and The Ascension Citizen (founded 1996). The Donaldsonville Chief, founded in 1871, is the parish's longest-continually-published newspaper.

Law, government and politics

United States presidential election results for Ascension Parish, Louisiana^[27]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	40,687	65.28%	20,399	32.73%	1,239	1.99%
2016	36,143	66.10%	16,476	30.13%	2,059	3.77%
2012	33,856	66.29%	16,349	32.01%	868	1.70%
2008	31,239	67.08%	14,625	31.40%	707	1.52%
2004	24,661	63.07%	13,955	35.69%	484	1.24%
2000	16,818	54.53%	13,385	43.40%	641	2.08%
1996	10,885	37.02%	15,263	51.91%	3,252	11.06%
1992	10,275	37.03%	13,036	46.98%	4,437	15.99%
1988	10,726	46.15%	12,147	52.27%	367	1.58%
1984	11,945	51.55%	11,048	47.68%	177	0.76%
1980	7,238	35.83%	12,381	61.29%	581	2.88%
1976	4,435	31.73%	9,100	65.10%	443	3.17%
1972	5,187	54.48%	3,324	34.91%	1,010	10.61%
1968	1,338	12.69%	3,203	30.37%	6,004	56.94%
1964	3,197	39.59%	4,879	60.41%	0	0.00%
1960	1,012	13.30%	5,689	74.76%	909	11.94%
1956	1,853	40.86%	2,606	57.46%	76	1.68%
1952	1,787	33.22%	3,593	66.78%	0	0.00%
1948	433	14.52%	1,126	37.75%	1,424	47.74%
1944	364	13.71%	2,291	86.29%	0	0.00%
1940	385	13.58%	2,451	86.42%	0	0.00%
1936	350	12.92%	2,359	87.05%	1	0.04%
1932	279	13.42%	1,800	86.58%	0	0.00%
1928	436	23.72%	1,402	76.28%	0	0.00%
1924	277	28.97%	679	71.03%	0	0.00%
1920	496	44.36%	622	55.64%	0	0.00%
1916	106	15.19%	531	76.07%	61	8.74%
1912	64	10.26%	413	66.19%	147	23.56%

On March 8, 2017, Ascension Parish President Kenneth Paul "Kenny" Matassa (born September 12, 1949), a Republican,^[28] along with Olin Glenn Berthelot (born August 1948), a Democratic^[29] businessman from Gonzales, faced indictment in an attempted bribery scheme. The pair is charged with encouraging a candidate to withdraw from a local election on November 8, 2016.

The grand jury released its true bill to Judge Tess Stromberg of the 23rd Judicial District Court in Ascension, Assumption, and St. James parishes. Among those who testified in the case were Democratic Gonzales City Council member Neal Bourqueat. Matassa and Berthelot allegedly bribed the Democrat A. Wayne Lawson with offers of money and a government job to drop out of the city council race in Division E against Bourque,^[30] who nevertheless won reelection with 61 percent of the ballots cast.^[31]

Matassa and Berthelot turned themselves in to authorities and posted a $5,000 bond. Reports, meanwhile, surfaced of a move before the parish council calling for Matassa to resign. He cannot be forced from the office, however, unless convicted of the crime. Matassa and Berthelot could have received up to two years in state prison either with or without hard time and/or a fine of $2,000.^[30] Matassa was instead acquitted in July 2018 of the election bribery allegations and returned to his duties as parish president with a legal cloud lifted from his shoulders.^[32]

National Guard

The 922nd Engineer Company (Horizontal), a unit of the 769th Engineer Battalion and the 225th Engineer Brigade. The 1021st Vertical Engineer Company also resides in Gonzales, Louisiana.