Tangipahoa Parish was created by Louisiana Act 85 on March 6, 1869, taking land from the parishes surrounding it, namely, St. Helena, Livingston, Washington and St. Tammany. Here is a map from 1853 showing what the Florida Parishes looked like before Tangipahoa Parish was created.
Everything east of the Tangipaphoa River was in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, and everything west of the Tangipahoa River was in Livingston and St. Helena Parishes.
This was exactly 50 years after Washington Parish was created in 1819, taking its territory from the northern half of St. Tammany Parish ( which before that time went to the Mississippi state line to the north.) That action reduced St. Tammany to about half its original size.
Why was Tangipahoa Parish created? Here's an account by one resident who had heard it had something to do with railroad workers liking to drink whiskey.
In 1975 there was again talk about splitting St. Tammany Parish apart, this time east and west, to allow Slidell to have it own courthouse.
From the Times Picayune from 47 years ago...
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