[3] In the early 1800s smaller steamboats started traveling up Bayou Teche to the Opelousas River, renamed Bayou Courtableau, at Barre’s Landing (named after Alexander Charles Barré) that became Port Barre, then to Washington where there was a bottleneck as the steamboats could not turn around.

[5][6][7] During the American Civil War, some of Union General Nathaniel P. Banks' forces occupied several towns in the region, including Washington, which was then larger than the parish seat of Opelousas.

In the fall of 1868 before the election, white Democrats in Washington rejected African Americans who sought to join their political party, and the Seymour Knights physically drove the blacks out of the city.

All but two were executed without trial, and whites rampaged against blacks in the parish seat and surrounding area, killing an estimated 50 to 200-300 African Americans, in what is known as the Opelousas Massacre.

[15] Washington has a reputation of being a speed trap; that is, a town where traffic laws are enforced extremely strictly as a means of generating revenue.

A 2007 report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found that more than 50% of the town's revenue came from traffic-related fines in the 2005 fiscal year.

[17] In 2009, then-mayor Joseph Pitre told The Advocate newspaper that he believed the town had collected between $700,000-$800,000 from speeding tickets yearly.

He obtained approval of the House Transportation Committee to allow enforcement of traffic laws only if a community had incorporated at least one-half mile of land that extends to each side of an interstate highway, excluding overpasses and ramps.

At the time, Seabaugh reported receiving many complaints from constituents in Shreveport as well as out-of-state drivers who have been ticketed for speeding only slightly over the legal limit.