Jackson Historic District

Jackson incorporated in 1825 as East Feliciana Parish's original seat, and the bones of that moment are still there: 124 structures listed on the National Register, many clustered along streets that haven't moved since the 1820s. The Old Centenary Inn and former college buildings anchor the downtown core. Centenary College of Louisiana opened here in 1825, holding classes in Jackson for eighty-three years before relocating to Shreveport in 1908. For most of the nineteenth century, this was a working parish seat with a working college — administrative offices, lecture halls, boarding houses, all within walking distance of each other. The Republic of West Florida Historical Association Museum on Charter Street is a worthwhile short stop if you want the parish's longer backstory. What you get here is a rare thing: a small Louisiana town that looks like what it was, not what developers wished it could become.