Edgard Map
Edgard is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the parish seat of St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,637 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. Edgard is part of the German Coast of Louisiana.
One of the parish's first communities and a social haunt of the pirate Jean Lafitte, Edgard has been the parish seat since 1848. Originally named St. John the Baptist for the church at its heart, Edgard was renamed in 1850 for its postmaster, Edgar Perret. Edgard's first church, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (1772), was destroyed by the Poche Crevasse in 1821. Another church was soon erected. Unfortunately, in 1918, fire gutted the sacred building. A testament to the Church's place in the community, the parishioners gave generously, and when the new church opened its doors, all debts had been paid.
The economic history of Edgard included a saw mill operated by Severin Tassin, a brick factory begun in 1878 and several sugar plantations that operated in the century between 1794 and 1894. By 1899, there were more than fifty family-owned sugar houses still in existence.
Nearby cities include Reserve, Norco, Hahnville, Destrehan, Paradis.