Denham Springs, LA

Livingston Parish is in the central part of the eastward-projecting southern half of Louisiana.  The southeastern corner is about 35 miles east of Baton Rouge.

Livingston Parish is known as one of the Florida Parishes of Louisiana; it was a part of West Florida until 1810.  On September 22 or that year, the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge was captured by a band of cavalry and infantry made up of settlers from the West Florida area.  Four days later, on September 26, a declaration of independence of the State of West Florida was issued.  It has been asserted by one authority that the majority of foot soldiers of the rebel force and indeed a majority of that force itself, were volunteers from the Livingston Parish settlement of Springfield.  On October 27, 1810, upon petition of the West Florida revolter's, West Florida between Mississippi and Pearl Rivers was annexed to the United States by Presidential proclamation.

Most compilers agree that the parish was named in honor of either Robert or Edward Livingston; however, they cannot unanimously agree on either one.  Clark Forest Jr. in his article entitled "Various Locations of the Livingston Parish Courthouse" submits that the parish is named in honor of Edward Livingston.

Since its creation in 1832 from the southern portion of St. Helena Parish, Livingston has had five different parish seats, which may be a record of sorts for Louisiana Parishes.

No original records have been found to establish the location of the parish's first seat of justice, but secondary sources indicate it was at Van Buren.  Information is contained in an act passed by the Louisiana Legislature on March 13, 1835 entitled "To Remove the Seat of Justice form Van Buren to Springfield, in the Parish of Livingston."

In the 1850's, after completion of the New Orleans to Jackson Railroad, pressure mounted to move the courthouse to a site along the vote on changing their courthouse location in 1871.  The following year the legislature enacted Act 83 which stated the seat of justice would be located at Port Vincent.

On October 15, 1875, the parish courthouse was moved from Centerville to Livingston, three acts were passed by the Legislature authorizing the removal of the courthouse to some point on the railroad.  A referendum was finally held in 1941, and the town of Livingston was approved as the fifth and final courthouse site.

Read more about Denham Springs on Wikipedia.