Formed December 31, 1807 (15th parish)
Plaquemines Parish (23,515), Pointe a la Hache* (183), Belle Chasse* (10,579)
The red brick Renaissance Revival structure sits on the banks of the Mississippi River. It was completely gutted by a fire in 2002 and then Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Louisiana State Highway 15 is in front of the facility. The courthouse was built in 1890. Pointe a la Hache has been the parish seat since 1846. The parish was formed on December 31, 1807 from Orleans County as the 15th parish. Point Pleasant, Plaquemines, and Pointe a la Hache have all served as parish seat. Parish governmental operations were temporarily located in an annex in Belle Chasse on Louisiana State Highway 23. N. Downey & Kiddell were the designer of the Pointe a la Hache courthouse. A new courthouse was built in 2019. The county seat is a French name meaning “axe point.” The parish seat’s name originates with the Native American word for persimmon, piakimin.
Plaquemines Parish government consists of a President, a sheriff, a clerk, a treasurer, and a coroner (executive). It has 9 Council Members (legislative.) Two District Court Judges and Nine Justice Court Judges serve Plaquemines Parish (judicial.) The parish is on the Mississippi River delta part of Louisiana. The Gulf of Mexico is the southeast and southern border. New Orleans, Louisiana is just to the northwest of the area. The parish center is .7 miles East-Southeast of Point a la Hache. The parish is surrounded clockwise by Orleans and Saint Bernard parishes and the Gulf of Mexico and Jefferson Parish.
The area of the parish is 2429 square miles. It is 1 out of 64 in the state. It ranks 38 out of 64 in population in the state. It has a density of 9.7 persons per square mile making it 62 out of 64 in the state. Plaquemines Parish has 0.0% of its population in its incorporated areas since there are no incorporated areas. There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the parish. The parish is shaped like a lamp leaning toward the northwest. Pointe a la Hache is actually northwest of the parish’s center although it appears to be close to the center. Belle Chasse is in the extreme northwest corner of the parish. Pointe a la Hache is the official parish seat and Belle Chasse is the largest populated area. Pointe a la Hache is 0.8% of the parish population while Belle Chasse is 45.0% of the parish population. The parish is pronounced PLAE-KE-MINS. The seat is pronounced POYNT A LA HAUSH. This parish is in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Pointe a la Hache (unincorporated)
