Editing Iota, Louisiana

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
 | name                     = Iota, Louisiana
 | official_name            = Town of Iota
 | settlement_type          = Town
 | image_skyline            = 
 | imagesize                = 
 | image_alt                = 
 | image_caption            = 
 | image_map                = File:Acadia Parish Louisiana Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Iota Highlighted.svg
 | mapsize                  = 
 | map_caption              = Location of Iota in Acadia Parish, Louisiana.
 | image_map1               = Louisiana in United States (US48).svg
 | mapsize1                 = 
 | map_caption1             = Location of Louisiana in the United States
<!-- Location -->
 | subdivision_type         = Country
 | subdivision_name         = United States
 | subdivision_type1        = State
 | subdivision_name1        = Louisiana
 | subdivision_type2        = Parish
 | subdivision_name2        = [[Acadia Parish, Louisiana|Acadia]]
<!-- Government -->
 | established_title        = Founded
 | established_date         = 
 | founder                  = 
 | named_for                = 
 | government_footnotes     = 
 | government_type          = 
 | governing_body           = 
 | leader_party             = 
 | leader_title             = Mayor
 | leader_name              = 
<!-- Area -->
 | unit_pref                = Imperial
 | area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_22.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=March 20, 2022}}</ref>
 | area_total_km2           = 3.29
 | area_total_sq_mi         = 1.27
 | area_land_km2            = 3.29
 | area_land_sq_mi          = 1.27
 | area_water_km2           = 0.00
 | area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00
 | area_water_percent       = 
 | area_metro_footnotes     = 
 | area_metro_km2           = 
 | area_metro_sq_mi         = 
 | area_rank                = 
<!-- Population -->
 | population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
 | population_footnotes     = 
 | population_total         = 1304
 | population_density_km2   = 396.42
 | population_density_sq_mi = 1026.77
 | population_demonym       = 
<!-- General information -->
 | timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|CST]]
 | utc_offset               = -6
 | timezone_DST             = [[North American Central Time Zone|CDT]]
 | utc_offset_DST           = -5
 | elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
 | elevation_ft             = 30
 | coordinates              = {{coord|30|19|35|N|92|29|56|W|display=inline,title}}
 | coordinates_footnotes    = <ref name=gnis/>
<!-- Area/postal codes and others -->
 | postal_code_type         = Zip Code
 | postal_code              = 70543
 | area_code_type           = Area Code
 | area_code                = [[Area code 337|337]]
 | blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standards|FIPS code]]
 | blank_info               = 22-37410
 | blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
 | blank1_info              = 2405891<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2405891}}</ref>
 | website                  = 
 | footnotes                = 
}}

'''Iota''' is a town in [[Acadia Parish, Louisiana|Acadia Parish]], Louisiana. The population was 1,304 in 2020. Iota is part of the [[Crowley, Louisiana|Crowley]] [[Micropolitan Statistical Area]].

== History ==
The history of Iota is identified with Pointe-aux-Loups (French for Wolf Point), one of the oldest place names in southwest Louisiana, and the location of mineral springs that attracted many visitors beginning about 1858. The older settlement was located on [[Bayou des Cannes]] about two miles west of the present Town of Iota. A post office named Cartville, for the first postmaster Samuel Cart, was established in the vicinity of Pointe-aux-Loups in 1884. Ten years later, a railroad branch line from [[Midland, Louisiana|Midland]] to [[Eunice, Louisiana|Eunice]] bypassed Cartville by a mile or so to the east. The railroad company built a depot at a point on the line nearest to the Cartville and Pointe-aux-Loups settlements, naming it Iota. The Cartville post office was changed to Iota in 1900.

[[Cornelius C. Duson|C.C. Duson]] is credited with being the founder of Iota. It was he who promoted the construction of the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] rail line to [[Eunice, Louisiana|Eunice]], the new town that he founded in [[St. Landry Parish, Louisiana|St. Landry Parish]]. At the same time, 1894, Duson acquired the land on which Iota now stands, a 160-acre tract which had been homesteaded by Archille Doucet in 1835. Duson divided the land into town lots and sold them. Duson was the prime mover in the establishment of the Acadia Canal Company in the vicinity of Iota, and president of the town's first rice mill in 1901—two businesses said to have been responsible for Iota's early economic development.

Iota and its people continued to prosper throughout the 20th century, with agriculture and petroleum as the primary sectors of the local economy. During this time, rice and later [[Crayfish|crawfish]] developed as the main cash crops of the area.

In the 1990s, it was discovered that Iota has an unusually high number of people carrying [[Tay–Sachs disease|Tay-Sachs]], a rare genetic disorder.

Iota was represented in the novel ''No Place Louisiana'' by [[Martin Pousson]], published in 2002.

Iota is the home of [[American Legion]] Post No. 371 and many veterans of foreign wars.

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|3.3|km2|order=flip}}, all land.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1910= 769
|1920= 802
|1930= 827
|1940= 1000
|1950= 1162
|1960= 1245
|1970= 1271
|1980= 1326
|1990= 1256
|2000= 1376
|2010= 1500
|2020= 1304
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Iota racial composition as of 2020<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US2237410&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 29, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
| 1,169
| 89.65%
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
| 68
| 5.21%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
| 2
| 0.15%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
| 34
| 2.61%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
| 31
| 2.38%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 1,304 people, 648 households, and 409 families residing in the town.

==Arts and culture==
[[File:New iota mardi gras.jpg|left|thumb|alt=|Mardi Gras celebration near Iota]]
The annual Iota Mardi Gras Folklife Festival attracts thousands of tourists and visitors, offering authentic [[Cajun food]], [[Cajun music|music]] and crafts. In contrast to the elaborate costumes and parades of urban Carnival [[krewe]]s, in Iota and nearby rural communities like Tee Mamou and LeJeune Cove, [[Cajuns]] celebrate ''[[Courir de Mardi Gras]]''. Disguised with masks, costumes, and conical hats called [[capuchon]]s, the townspeople travel through the surrounding countryside, making merry while begging for money and [[gumbo]] ingredients. The gumbo is the centerpiece of a communal supper and dance, where the Mardi Gras riders sing the ''[[Chanson de Mardi Gras]]'', an old [[Louisiana French|Cajun French]] drinking and begging song, and then take off their masks to reveal, ostensibly for the first time that day, the identity of each rider.

[[File:Iota Louisiana High School.jpg|alt=|thumb|250x250px|Iota High School]]

==Education==
[[Acadia Parish School Board]] serves Iota, operating [[Iota High School]]. St. Francis Catholic School is also located in the district.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Acadia Parish, Louisiana}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Acadia Parish, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Towns in Louisiana]]