Beauregard Parish is located in what was originally the northwest corner of Opelousas County, created in 1806 as a division of the Territory of Orleans. The boundaries of Opelousas embraced the entire southwestern section of the state and in the northeast, extended almost to the Mississippi River. With the inception of the parish form of government in 1807, the area of Opelousas was called St. Landry Parish. The boundaries of St. Landry Parish were not altered until around 1840, when the western portion of that parish was designated as Calcasieu Parish.

 

The first important item of the trade in the area was lumber. Schooners plying the waters of the Calcasieu took cargos of lumber to Galveston. In exchange for the lumber, the ships brought back supplies and food products. One trading vessel, the Emma, for example took lumber and cowhides to Galveston and brought back salt, pepper, flour, furniture, and china, shotguns, powder and shot.

 

The movement to create Beauregard Parish began in 1908 when a group of men from DeRidder, Sugartown and Merryville met over what was the Ideal Drug Store. Among those present were Herman McMahon, T. J. Carroll, Frank E. Powell, Gilbert F. Hennigan, moses Cook Frazar, Harold Iles and A.I. Shaw. Through their efforts, a bill was introduced on the state legislature for the creation of a parish. It was voted down. A second and successful attempt was made in 1912. The bill became effective on January 1, 1913.

 

A group of area women promoted the idea of naming the idea of naming the parish after the famed General Peirre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. The majority of citizens agreed ad Beauregard took its place  among the other parishes of the state.

 

On Oct. 15, Beauregard Parish citizens voted for the permanent seat of the parish. Their total vote was 1,097. There were 663 for DeRidder and 434 for Singer.

 

The first meeting of the police jury was held July  2, 1912. J.W. Tooke was elected president. The first court session was held in a small two-room frame building on the west side of North Stewart St. After it was destroyed by fire,  another one-story building was selected and used as a courtroom until June 3, 1913 when the police jury approved an ordinance naming "the old high school building" as the court house.

 

Beauregard is located in the extreme western section of the state and its boundaries remain as originally described. It is  bounded by Vernon on the north, Allen on the East and Calcasieu on the south, and Texas on the west.

 

The parish has a land area of 1720 square miles.