Frenchtown

Frenchtown may refer to:

In the United States:

See also

Frenchtown, Houston

Frenchtown is a section of the Fifth Ward in Houston, Texas. In 1922, a group of Louisiana Creoles organized Frenchtown, which contained a largely Roman Catholic and Creole culture.

History

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 forced many Creoles to leave Louisiana, and they settled the Frenchtown area.

The Creole people brought their musical influences, and zydeco music was established in the community. They were relatively wealthy and believed in Roman Catholicism. West wrote that Frenchtown was "clannish". Around the 1950s young women from Frenchtown rarely married outside of the community, and traditionally the Creoles opposed the idea of their daughters marrying dark-skinned blacks. The Creole Knights, a social club including eleven members of the first families to move to Frenchtown, was in operation as of 1979. West called it one of the most exclusive such clubs in Houston.

The community was about four square blocks. The Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, completed in 1930 by Creoles for Creoles, serves as a social center for the neighborhood. The Houston Press described the Continental Zydeco Ballroom at 3101 Collingsworth as serving as the "Saturday-night focal point" for Frenchtown for several decades. Throughout its history, Frenchtown had narrow streets and a lack of sidewalks, complicating the riding of bicycles.

Frenchtown (unincorporated community), Maryland

Frenchtown is an unincorporated community immediately north of Perryville in Cecil County, Maryland, United States.

References