Alexandre Mouton House

Alexandre Mouton House was originally built by Jean Mouton, Alexandre’s father, who was born in Nova Scotia in 1755. He was an early settler in Southwest Louisiana and founded the town of Vermilionville in 1824. The first building on this property was a one-room Acadian house. Today, it is connected to the rear of the main house by an open walkway. The main house began as a two room, single-story, bousillage-constructed French Acadian Cottage which was modified around 1820 by Jean’s son, Alexander Mouton. Alexandre added three rooms to the rear of the single story structure and lived in the house until around 1836, when the construction of his plantation home, Isle Copal, was completed. In the middle of the 1800s Alexandre Mouton’s land holdings included over 20,000 acres, approximately 60% of the size of Lafayette city limits in 2020. Alexandre became Governor of Louisiana in 1843. After changing ownership a few times, the house was purchased in 1849 by physician, William G. Mills, who added the second and third floors and cupola. In 1890, the house was purchased by Dr. Percy Girard. After the death of Dr. Girard’s widow in the late 1940s, the house was empty for over 10 years and was under threat of demolition. In 1954, a group of twenty-four, civic-minded ladies who called themselves, Les Vingt-Quatre, purchased the house and adapted it for use as the Lafayette Museum. Thanks to Les Vingt-Quatre, the museum is still in operation.