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Lake Pontchartrain sunset

St. Tammany Fun Facts

How the Parish Got Its Name

  • St. Tammany Parish was created by proclamation on Dec. 22, 1810 by Gov. William Charles Cole Claiborne, who never explained why he named the new parish St. Tammany.
  • The name is generally thought to have come from Tamanend, a Delaware Indian Chief, reputed to have been a great friend to European settlers in the early days of the colonization of the East Coast.
  • His name lived on in a political society called the Sons of Tammany, which eventually gave its name to Tammany Hall in New York City.
  • The title of Saint was purely honorary, although Tamanend was renowned for his goodness.
  • (Source: "St. Tammany Parish, The American Colonial Period," by Frederick S. Ellis, Pelican Publishing, 1981)

World's Longest Bridge

  • The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is considered the longest continuous bridge over water in the world.
  • The northbound span extends 23.87 miles and the southbound 23.86 miles.
  • Components of the Causeway were precast and pre-stressed in steel forms at the Louisiana Bridge Company's prefabricated and assembling plant near Mandeville, La. They were then assembled, loaded on barges and towed to construction points on the lake.
  • The first span was built in 1955-'56 and opened Aug. 30, 1956. The bridge took 14 months to complete and cost $30,677,000.
  • The second span was built in 1967-'69 and opened May 10, 1969. This span took 20 months to complete and cost $29,887,174.
  • The two spans are 80 feet apart and connected by seven crossovers which function as pullover bays for motoring emergencies.
  • Lake Pontchartrain is 610 square miles and was named for the Count de Pontchartrain, minister of the marine during the regime of France's "Sun King" for whom Louisiana was named.

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