Editing Zachary, Louisiana (section)

==History==
Much of the land which the city now occupies was part of a {{convert|160|acre|adj=on}} farm owned by Darel Zachary (1827-1907).<ref>[http://local.townsquarepublications.com/louisiana/zachary/03/topic.html "History of Zachary"] Town Square Publications, 2005.</ref> In the 1880s, Zachary sold his land to the [[Illinois Central Railroad]], who built a track and a depot on it.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://theadvocate.com/news/zachary/11919288-123/archivist-retraces-zacharys-history-from| title=Archivist Retraces Zachary's History from Original Train Depot, Revolution, Resurrection from Fire| first=C. J.| last=Futch| work=The Advocate| date=March 25, 2015| access-date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> A village quickly grew up around the depot, which came to be called "Zachary" after the original farmer. Zachary's first post office was opened in 1885, and it was incorporated as a city on August 2, 1889,<ref>Margaret Harmon, historian and archivist for the Zachary United Methodist Church (September 2011), [http://zacharyumc.weebly.com/heritage.html "A Look Back at Our History"]</ref> with Thomas Edward McHugh as its first mayor.<ref name=city>{{Cite web| url=http://www.cityofzachary.org/history.html| title=History of Zachary| publisher=City of Zachary| access-date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> A fire devastated the city in 1903, supposedly caused by a greengrocer trying to flame-ripen his bananas. The "historic village" at the center of the city is composed of buildings which either survived the fire, or were built shortly after it, the oldest (excluding the depot) being the 1898 Allison House. The first census was carried out in 1914 and reported just 419 residents. In 1966 Zachary became the first city in Louisiana since the [[Reconstruction Era]] to elect a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] as mayor, Jack Louis Breaux.<ref name=city/>