American Legion Post 69 Building & Property

Three significant histories are associated with this site. It is a place where early Indigenous People gathered; it is the site of Chargois Springs that once flowed from the Chicot Aquifer; and it was the home of Stanley Martin-Felix Ducrest American Legion Post 69, established in 1920. Indigenous People’s artifacts have been found in several areas surrounding this site. Therefore, it is understood to be a place where First Peoples frequented and lived. In the middle of the 1890s, Joseph Albert Chargois began operating a recreation spot at the cold water, spring-fed pool that once existed there. In 1920, the American Legion Post 69, built a small building on a portion of this site. The Post was first named for Stanley Martin, “boy soldier”, Lafayette’s first World War I casualty. The name of the Post was later changed to include Felix Ducrest, Lafayette’s first World War II casualty. In 1968, the Post commissioned Dave Perkins, FAIA, to design the Midcentury Ranch style building shown in the photo above. In 2022, the building and property were removed from the Lafayette Historic Register by Lafayette Consolidated Government in order to replace the building with a necessary retention pond to help relieve flooding in nearby River Oaks Subdivision.