Coushatta sits along the Red River in northwest Louisiana. For generations it has served as a center of government, commerce and community life for the surrounding farms and towns of the Red River Valley.
Named for the Coushatta people
The town takes its name from the Coushatta, also known as the Koasati — a Native American people whose communities lived along the waterways of the region. The name remains a lasting reminder of the area's earliest inhabitants.
A river town
The Red River shaped Coushatta's early growth. Riverboat landings connected local cotton and timber to markets downriver, and the fertile bottomland of the valley sustained the farms that surrounded the town.
Seat of Red River Parish
When the Louisiana Legislature created Red River Parish in 1871, Coushatta became its seat of government. The parish courthouse and offices remain in Coushatta today, alongside Town Hall, local schools, churches and businesses.