Arpadhon, a 120-year-old Hungarian settlement in the US

In eastern Livingston Parish, Louisiana, due south of a small town called Albany, there exists the remnants of a rural ethnic Hungarian community. By the beginning of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians had migrated to the United States in an attempt to improve their social conditions and expand their economic opportunities. By 1920, Hungarians could be found in every state in the Union. Some of these Magyar immigrants found their way to the pine forests of south-eastern Louisiana by 1896, where they established a Hungarian community that still preserves its cultural identity and ethnic roots.

Community history – the Charles Brackenridge Lumber Company

The Charles Brackenridge Lumber Company had opened a mill in eastern Livingston Parish in 1890, which provided jobs for the first Magyar setters. The Brackenridge Lumber Company usually sold the cut over timber land in twenty-acre sections. Mill workers could purchase land on credit, which gave many Hungarians an opportunity they never would have had in their native homeland.

The founders

After finding the area suitable to live and discovering the opportunity to buy cut over timber land for farming, the first three original Hungarian settlers, Julius Bruskay, Adam Mocsary, and Theodore Zboray, went to great lengths to encourage other Hungarians to join them in Louisiana. Bruskay and Zboray even made trips to Hungarian communities in the North to spread the news of a Magyar settlement in Louisiana. In an attempt to bring more settlers to the area, the Illinois Central Railroad agreed to pay $900 a year to advertise this region in the Szabadság, a Hungarian language newspaper. As more Hungarians made this community their home, they decided to name it after Árpád, a national Hungarian hero, who united the people of Hungary, and conquered the land known today as the country of Hungary in 896. They called their new home Arpadhon, however, today it is simply called Hungarian Settlement.

The Immigration House

Later, an immigration house was built to accommodate settlers until they could find a place to live. It also helped to meet the immediate religious, educational, and social needs of the community and served as a place of worship for both Catholics and Protestants until separate churches could be constructed. The immigration house also provided a place for social functions as well as the first public education in the area.

The Hungarian Presbyterian Church and the St. Margaret Catholic Church

In 1908, under the leadership of Reverend John Kovacs, the Presbyterian Magyars of Arpadhon constructed the first church in the Hungarian community. The Hungarian Presbyterian Church was built on twenty acres of land donated by the Brackenridge Lumber Company. The Presbyterians were fortunate enough to have Hungarian ministers serving their congregation for many years. As a result, services were held exclusively in the Hungarian language for over fifty years.
In 1910, the Catholics of Arpadhon began the construction of St. Margaret Catholic Church on twenty acres of land donated by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Juhasz. Named after a patron saint of Hungary, St. Margaret served the larger Catholic population of the community. A northern contractor, Frank Kiss, was hired to build the church, and all available Catholic men in the community assisted, working free of charge. The Catholics had a difficult time securing Hungarian priests to serve their congregation. After 1912, no more Hungarian priests served at St. Margaret.