Houma

City of Houma
City
Terrebonne Parish Courthouse, Houma
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Terrebonne
Elevation	10 ft (3 m)
Coordinates	29°35′15″N 90°42′58″W / 29.5875°N 90.71611°W / 29.5875; -90.71611
Area	14.2 sq mi (36.8 km2)
- land	14.0 sq mi (36 km2)
- water	0.1 sq mi (0 km2), 0.7%
Population	32,393 (2000)
Density	2,308.5 /sq mi (891.3 /km2)
Founded	1834
- Incorporated	1848
- Re-Incorporated	1898
Government	Consolidated City-Parish
Parish President	Michel Claudet
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	70360, 70363-64
Area code	985
Location of Houma in Louisiana
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Website: http://www.tpcg.org

Houma (pronounced /ˈhoʊmə/ and /ˈhuːmə/ ^[1]) is the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, United States,^[2] and the largest principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's powers of government have been absorbed by the parish, which is now run by the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. The population was 32,393 at the 2000 census. There are many unincorporated areas adjacent to the city of Houma; the largest, Bayou Cane, is an urbanized area commonly referred to by locals as Houma but is not included in the 2000 census count, and is in fact a separate census-designated place. The name Houma derives from the Houmas Indian tribe, not recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

History

• Houma was founded in 1834 and incorporated in 1848, and again in 1898.

Geography

Houma is located at 29°35′15″N 90°42′58″W / 29.5875°N 90.71611°W / 29.5875; -90.71611 (29.587614, -90.716108)^[3] and has an elevation of 10 feet (3.0 m)^[4]. BY SQ

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.2 square miles (37 km²), of which, 14.0 square miles (36.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.92%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[5] of 2000, there were 32,393 people, 11,634 households, and 8,283 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,308.5 people per square mile (891.4/km²). There were 12,514 housing units at an average density of 891.8/sq mi (344.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.46% White, 26.12% African American, 3.45% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.68% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.

There were 11,634 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were married couples living together, 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.8% were non-families. 24.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,471, and the median income for a family was $40,679. Males had a median income of $35,897 versus $22,202 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,720. About 16.4% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.7% of those under age 18 and 17.3% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Houma and the surrounding communities are steeped in Cajun tradition and culture. The area is famous for its food, fishing, swamps, music, and hospitality. Houma is also known, although not as well as New Orleans, for its Mardi Gras festivities. Downtown Houma offers many attractions such as an aquatic wildlife museum, monuments to local armed forces, and local eateries. Although Houma is quickly changing and developing, many of the residents in the surrounding small communities continue to make their living as their ancestors did. They are shrimpers, oystermen, crabbers, fishermen, and trappers although occupations of the oil industry and shipping are also becoming quite popular. Despite the rapidly changing face of the area, many long-standing traditions and lifestyles remain to remind one of the area's rich cultural history.

• Houma is also the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, and home to Louisiana's second-oldest high school, Terrebonne High School.
• Houma and the surrounding area are the setting for the fictional Swamp Thing comic books, the 1994 V. C. Andrews book Ruby, and the 2005 film The Skeleton Key (which was not filmed in Houma or Terrebonne Parish).
• The 1999 films Crazy in Alabama and A Lesson Before Dying (Made for TV movie) were partially filmed in Houma.
• The HBO documentary The Recruiter, followed the life of an Army recruiter and several of his recruits from Houma.

News\Media

The local newspaper is The Courier. It was founded in 1878 as Le Courrier de Houma by French-born Lafayette Bernard Filhucan Bazet. It first published in four-page, half-French half-English editions. It was sold to The New York Times Company in 1980 and is now part of the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group.^[6]

Transportation

Houma is served by Houma-Terrebonne Airport, located 3 miles southeast of the central business district.

Hurricane Gustav

The Houma-Terrebonne area took the brunt of Hurricane Gustav on September 1, 2008. Houma was mentioned many times on national news channels such as MSNBC as the worst place to be during the storm. Many residents of Houma lost electricity for a few days and some residents had damage to homes.

Notable natives and residents

• Tab Benoit, Blues musician and co-star of the IMAX movie feature Hurricane on the Bayou, grew up in Houma and attended Vandebilt Catholic High School.
• Richie Cunningham, professional athlete.
• Melissa Dettwiller, female bodybuilder
• Allen J. Ellender (1890-1972), former president pro tempore and Democratic U.S. Senator
• Cyril and Libbye Hellier, operatic sopranos.

• Melvin Johnson, professional athlete.
• Troy Johnson, professional athlete.
• Frank Lewis, professional athlete.
• Jay Pennison, professional athlete.
• Clarence Verdin, professional athlete.
• Wally Whitehurst, professional athlete.

Bibliography

• Houma, by Thomas Blum Cobb & Mara Currie, Arcadia Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-0-7385-1631-8

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Houma, Louisiana

• Houma Today (website of The Courier newspaper)

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