Carville, Louisiana

Carville
Neighborhood
The community is renamed "Carville"	1909
Population
• Total	700
• Density	21/km^2 (55/sq mi)
Zip code	70721

Carville is a neighborhood of St. Gabriel, located in Iberville Parish in southern Louisiana, sixteen miles south of Baton Rouge, on the Mississippi River. Best known as the childhood hometown of famed political consultant James Carville, it is also known for its sixty-five-year history as the only place in America to treat leprosy until outpatient treatment became viable in 1981.^[1][2][3] Nowadays, that legacy is celebrated at the National Hansen’s Disease Museum, which educates visitors about the condition.^[4]

Neighborhood Name

The area was renamed for James Carville's grandfather postmaster Louis Arthur Carville in 1909, to differentiate the area — formerly called "Island" — from the many other places in Louisiana with that name.^[2]

Carville National Leprosarium

See also: Leprosy in Louisiana and Carville Historic District

"In 1917, on February 3rd, Senate Bill number 4086, an act to establish a National Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana, [was] passed by the US Senate." The result was a U.S. Public Health Service hospital named "Carville National Leprosarium," and dedicated to treating leprosy.^[5][6]

The former site of the long-closed hospital has been known as the Gillis W. Long Center since 1986. Named for the late U.S. Representative Gillis William Long, a Democrat from Louisiana's 8th congressional district, it is operated by the Louisiana Army National Guard, and the facility now includes the National Hansen’s Disease Museum.^[6]

External links

• 100 Years of Carville's History
• Carville's Legacy
• Gillis W. Long Center Web site
• The National Hansen's Disease Museum

References

1. "About the City of St. Gabriel". St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
2. "Carville, LA - Places.US.Com". Places. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
3. "History of the National Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) Program | HRSA". www.hrsa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
4. Carville, Carville Hansen's Disease Museum 5445 Point Clair Rd; Maps, LA 70721 See map: Google. "Carville Hansen's Disease Museum". St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Retrieved 2024-02-08. {{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
5. B., C.; Beaty, J. K. (1950-03-05). "Spring Tours By Car and Boat Through Louisiana". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
6. Leighninger, Robert (January 5, 2011). "Carville National Leprosarium". 64 Parishes. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2022-01-20.

30°13′03″N 91°05′46″W