In 1884 the brothers Jean-Pierre and François Gueydan purchased forty thousand acres (160 km2) of land described by surveyors as "sea marsh, unfit for cultivation", for twelve and one-half cents per acre. By 1896 a small portion of their purchase became known as the "Gueydan Pasture". It was chartered as a village when the population reached 250. Jean Pierre was considered the official founder of Gueydan, as by then he had purchased his brother's landholdings. In 1902, the settlement became the town of Gueydan. Many residents were involved in the cultivation of rice along the waterways, as the area's most important commodity crop.