Carville Historic District, Medical historic district in Iberville Parish, US.
Carville Historic District is a 60-acre (24 ha) National Register district in Carville, Louisiana, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. It holds 24 contributing buildings and two contributing structures, most built in 1939–1941 by Neill P. Thompson. Its anchor is the Indian Camp Plantation House, an 1859 raised brick-and-stucco Greek Revival-Italianate mansion by Henry Howard with a hexastyle double gallery and two-story wings.
The district originated as a sugar plantation in 1859 and became the Louisiana Leper Home from 1894 onward, eventually serving as the nation's treatment facility for Hansen's disease. The shift from agricultural production to medical care shaped how the buildings and grounds were developed and organized.
The name Carville comes from the locality, not from a plantation-owning family; the plantation here was Indian Camp, whose 1859 main house survives. The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul served as nurses, teachers, researchers, medical librarians and pharmacists from 1896 to 2005, and their photographs and records are held in the museum archives. The Sacred Heart Chapel, a secondary church to St. Gabriel Catholic Church, still holds services.
The grounds are walkable, with pathways connecting the individual buildings and green spaces throughout the property. An on-site museum displays exhibits about the facility's medical history and maintains archives that provide deeper context for visitors interested in learning more.
Stanley Stein, a former patient at the facility, started The STAR newsletter in 1931 from within the complex and it continues to be published today. This publication has become a recognized source of information for people affected by Hansen's disease and demonstrates how patients found their voice within these walls.
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