The community was originally named Côte Gelée (Frozen Hill) because of its hilly ridge area and the severe winter of 1784. Broussard was founded in 1884. It was named after Valsin Broussard, a prominent local merchant, who formed the first vigilante committee when his own store was robbed. He was a direct descendant of Joseph Broussard de Beausoleil, one of the first 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana on February 27, 1765, aboard the Santo Domingo.[5]
Primary agricultural resources include sugarcane, soybean and hay production as well as horse and cattle farming. Principal industries consist of oil and gas service companies, food distributors, real estate developments and manufacturing.
Broussard has gone from a horse and buggy community, with large sugarcane plantation homes, to a current day industrial community with over 300 businesses. It was designated a city in November 2002.[6]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.4 square miles (29.6 km2), of which 11.4 square miles (29.5 km2) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km2) (0.18%) is water.
Of the population in 2019, there were 4,370 households living in 5,018 housing units.[11][12] An average of 2.69 people lived in a household. In 2019, the median age of the city was 35.1, and there was a median household income of $82,677. Males had a median income of $62,012 versus $50,930 for females, and 13.3% of the population lived at or below the poverty line.
^"Boundary Changes". Geographic Change Notes: Louisiana. Population Division, United States Census Bureau. May 19, 2006. Archived from the original on August 6, 2010. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
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