Pine Island

Located about 10 miles west of Hathaway on Highway 102 at Highway 99 in the center of Jefferson Davis Parish, this farm community was settled in the middle of a prairie around a hill thick with pine and oak trees (in the distance, right).

Pine Island became the home to many in the late-1920's after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The many people that lost their homes and livelihoods moved west and settled in Pine Island. When they arrived, they likely found work at Houssiere headquarters, operated by Henry Houssierre, who located his family's farming headquarters there in the mid-1920's.

The Houssiere family arrived in Southwestern Louisiana from France in 1883. Henry Houssiere was raised by his aunt Ismarie and her husband Arthur Latreille, who was the business partner of Henry’s father, Eugene. The Houssiere’s made their money when they struck oil in the Evangeline area and invested wisely in many ventures throughout Jeff Davis Parish, including hotels in Jennings and a motor company in Welsh.

The Houssiere’s also invested in real estate. Henry Houssiere and his younger brother Charles ran the Houssiere estates. They were inseparable but they had quite different personalities. Henry was the manager of the farms, cattle and crops, while Charlie's drive was for business and bargaining.

Henry Houssiere is remembered as the man who built the first sweet potato dry kiln in Jeff Davis Parish. He also built one of the first cotton gins at Jennings and Pine Island. He was overseer of the drilling of at least 10 irrigation wells which helped change the Pine Island area from a cotton culture to one of rice.

The cattle tick also got Henry's attention, and he worked hard to eliminate it. At the peak of his operations, Henry managed over 1,000 head of cattle as well as supervising over 7,000 acres of land, at least 3,500 in rice and 700 in corn, plus other highland crops.

-Excerpted from “Houssiere 1883 Family History” in the Lake Charles American Press, July 21, 1991, by Nola Mae Ross

Pine Island also had a general store, a Catholic church, and a big dance hall where the Hackberry Ramblers often played in the late 1930’s. In a documentary seen on PBS on the program Independent Lens, Make 'Em Dance, http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/makethemdance, Edwin Duhon remembered playing in the dance hall in Pine Island where they first used an amplifier. They powered the amplifier from the car running outside, blasting music in the back of the hall while they played in the front. The joint was jumpin’.

More information on the Great Mississippi Flood fo 1927 is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927