Donaldsonville, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
 The Old Ascension Parish Courthouse is located on Railroad Avenue in Donaldsonville | |
 Location of Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. | |
.svg) Location of Louisiana in the United States | |
| Coordinates: 30°6′0″N 90°59′39″W / 30.10000°N 90.99417°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Parish | Ascension |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Leroy Sullivan, Sr. (elected 2012) |
| Area | |
• Total | 3.80 sq mi (9.84 km2) |
| • Land | 3.78 sq mi (9.78 km2) |
| • Water | 0.02 sq mi (0.06 km2) |
| Elevation | 26 ft (8 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 6,695 |
| • Density | 1,772.10/sq mi (684.23/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Code | 70346 |
| Area code | 225 |
| FIPS code | 22-21240 |
| Website | http://www.donaldsonville-la.gov/ |
Donaldsonville (historically French: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas)[2] is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana.[3] Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. At the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 6,695.[4]
Donaldsonville's historic district has what has been described as the finest collection of buildings from the antebellum era to 1933, of any of the Louisiana river towns above New Orleans.[5] Union forces attacked the city, occupying it and several of the river parishes beginning in 1862. Fort Butler was built on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The fort was successfully defended on June 28, 1863, against a Confederate attack. This battle was one of the first occasions when free blacks and fugitive slaves fought as soldiers on behalf of the Union. The fort is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After the war, in 1868 Donaldsonville residents elected as mayor Pierre Caliste Landry, an attorney and Methodist minister; he was the first African American to be elected as mayor in the United States.[6]
- ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
- ^ "Cajun and Cajuns: Genealogy site for Cajun, Acadian and Louisiana genealogy, history and culture". Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
- ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ "QuickFacts: Donaldsonville city, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
- ^ >"10 Best Free Things to Do in Ascension Parish" Archived 2013-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (2002). The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today. National Geographic Society. p. 62. ISBN 0-7922-6913-6.