Les Vieux Temps

There was once a public school in the LaRompe community. According to the minutes of the St. Martin School Board meeting of Sept. 4, 1930, the Rycade Oil Company tendered to the School Board a building to be used as a one-teacher school to be operated at LaRompe for the school session of 1930-31. The motion of board member Mr. Bienvenu, seconded by Mr. Guirard, was unanimously approved. No other mention was ever made of the school either before or after this board meeting. Was the school needed for the employees of Rycade Oil Co. doing work in the area? Were there other people living in the area besides fishermen and hunters? And where is LaRompe?

There is very limited material available but so far I have determined that Bayou LaRompe is located in the Atchafalaya Basin south of Butte La Rose, east of Catahoula, and north of Lake Fausse Pointe in the vicinity of Lake Rycade. A Google search reveals very little excepting a brief description and mention of a Bayou LaRompe Hunting Club and a suit filed in the Louisiana Western District Federal Court vs. Meche et al in 2005.

In 1930 there was a voting precinct there so there must have been a few permanent residents in addition to fishermen, trappers and employees of Rycade Oil Co. living in the area. A source tells me that many of the people of the LaRompe community lived in houseboats.

In 1922 the Rycade Oil Co. had completed a gravity survey of the famous Spindle Top salt dome in Jefferson County, Texas. The company’s seismograph crew, equipped with a new type of foreign equipment, was exploring for oil all along the Gulf Coast, so it is not surprising that they were doing seismic work in the Bayou LaRompe area in 1930. Apparently when the company completed their seismic work, the Rycade Co. removed all their equipment and buildings so there was no justification to continue having a school in LaRompe beyond the one year the school was operated.

For those interested in other community schools in St. Martin Parish, you are invited to attend a presentation on Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. at the school board’s Instructional Center in Breaux Bridge.

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