Nickerson-Chappuis House

This Craftsman Bungalow is arguably one of the largest and most wellpreserved in Lafayette. It also has the distinction of belonging to the family credited with its construction for over 80 years. The house was built by John Cameron Nickerson and son-in-law, Wick B. Vernard, at the Vernard sawmill in McNary, near Alexandria, Louisiana. It was then moved via water transport to Lafayette. John Cameron’s father, John Nickerson, built the house next door at 310 North Sterling Street around 1890. Simcoe Street was named sometime between 1890 and 1901 for the Nickerson family’s home town, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. John Nickerson and his wife, Elizabeth Ransome Nickerson, moved from Simcoe, Ontario to Lafayette in 1878 when their son, John Cameron Nickerson, was 18 years old. Several streets in Lafayette bear names from this family, who along with the Judice side of the family owned large parcels of land near both ends of Simcoe Street, and in Scott.