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Jerry Major curious louisiana question is not just a question of pronunciation.
“Why is the town of Lecompte pronounced Lecount?” he asked.
The Baton Rouge major worked at LSU in Alexandria for several months immediately after graduating from LSU in Baton Rouge. Lecompte, near LSUA, has been bothering him with the pronunciation.
His problem was a horn that marked the start of a horse race that led to the name change of the parish town of Rapid, whose pronunciation was based on a child’s mispronunciation.
Confused? Well, admittedly, there are many parts to this puzzle, and it all starts with a horse named Lecomte, bred by Thomas Jefferson Wells of Smith’s Landing on Dentley Plantation a few miles south of Alexandria.
Theodore Moise and Victor Pierson painted “The Life of Metairie” in 1867. The painting depicts the postwar crowd at Metairie Racecourse, where the underdog Louisiana racehorse LeConte beat the country’s No. 1 racehorse, Lexington, a decade ago. The racecourse is now home to the Metairie Cemetery, whose graves are arranged in a racetrack oval.
Lecomte, a thoroughbred horse with a sorrel coat and white hind legs, was named in honor of Wells’ friend Ambrose Lecomte, a planter on the sugar cane river near Natchitoches.
“I’ve talked to several people in town and they’re all telling me the same story about the pronunciation of Lecomte’s name,” says Sophia Pierre, librarian at Rapides Parish Libraries’ Johnson Branch at Old Lecompte High School.
The old high school also serves as a museum documenting the town’s history.
“I was told that one of Wells’ youngest daughters couldn’t pronounce Lecomte,” Pierre continued. “She said ‘Lecount’ – it got stuck.”
Hand-painted color print of Lecomte, a Louisiana racehorse in the 1920s, titled: “Lecomte, winner of the four-mile race in New Orleans, April 8, 1855. Time 7m. 26 seconds. Lecomte has a maroon coat, left hind leg There is a white “sock” on it.
Wells raced the Great State Post Stakes at Metairie Race Course in Metairie on April 1, 1854, the mispronounced horse would To make a mark on history, this race will feature the best horses from four states.
Among them, the undefeated Lexington ranks first in the country. Dignitaries from across the country were in attendance, including President Millard Fillmore.
Lexington wins two prelims on slippery track, but ‘Leconte’s guerrillas still don’t believe Lexington is a better horse as Lexington runs on muddy track for first time’ ,” in his 1982 book Leconte: In Transition. “
So the owners of Lexington and LeConte scheduled a rematch a week later. That day, Leconte won the second heat with a clear lead over Lexington. His time was 7 minutes 26 seconds.
Even today, the Lecomte Stakes are Kentucky Derby prep games at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans in mid-January. Today’s contest has a $200,000 prize.
Returning home after the big game in 1854, the residents of Smith Landing were so proud of their champion that they renamed the town for him. When a sign painter accidentally added a “p” to “Lecomte” at a train station, no one wanted to change it.
This is how Lecomte becomes Lecompte pronounced Lecount.
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