Formed March 22, 1822 (26th parish)
Terrebonne Parish (109,583), Houma (33,404)
The governmental Classical Revival structure was built in 1937 on a city square on Main between Church and Goode streets. An Annex was built in 1968. An 1875 courthouse also was located in Houma. Bayou Cane was the first parish seat. On March 22, 1822, Terrebonne became a separate parish as the 26th parish. The parish was originally part of Lafourche County. A beautiful garden with stately oaks sits in front of the building. Wogan & Bernard were the designers of the courthouse. The parish’s name means “good land” in French. Houma was the name of the Native Americans from the region.
Terrebonne Parish government consists of a President, a sheriff, a clerk, a treasurer, and a coroner (executive). It has 9 Council Members (legislative.) Five District Court Judges and Nine Justice Court Judges serve Terrebonne Parish (judicial.) The parish is in the delta area of the state. New Orleans, Louisiana is northeast and Lafayette, Louisiana is northwest. The Gulf of Mexico is the southern border of the parish. Numerous bayous and rivers are in and surround this area. The parish center is 5.6 miles South-Southwest of Houma. The parish is surrounded clockwise by Lafourche Parish and the Gulf of Mexico and Saint Mary and Assumption parishes.
The area of the parish is 2080 square miles. It is 2 out of 64 in the state. It ranks 14 out of 64 in population in the state. It has a density of 52.7 persons per square mile making it 28 out of 64 in the state. Terrebonne Parish has 30.5% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 90 comes in from Lafourche Parish, east, and goes into Saint Mary Parish, west. The parish is shaped like a seashell facing toward the Gulf. Houma is in the northeast quarter of the parish. Houma is the parish seat and the largest city since it is the only incorporated city. It is 30.5% of the parish population. The parish is pronounced TAER-BON. The seat is pronounced HOE-MA. This parish is in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Houma
