Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

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Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish Courthouse in Homer, LA.jpg
The Claiborne Parish Courthouse was built in 1860 in Greek style. It served as a point of departure for Confederate troops.
Map of Louisiana highlighting Claiborne Parish.svg
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana in United States.svg
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
StateFlag of Louisiana.svg  Louisiana
Region North Louisiana
FoundedMarch 15, 1828
Named for William C. C. Claiborne
Parish seat Homer
Largest municipality Lisbon (area)
Homer (population)
Area
  Total1,990 km2 (767 sq mi)
  Land1,960 km2 (755 sq mi)
  Water30 km2 (13 sq mi)
  percentage4 km2 (1.6 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)
  Total14,170
  Estimate 
(2021)
14,038
  Density7.1/km2 (18/sq mi)
Time zone UTC-6 (CST)
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code 318
Congressional district 4th
Website Claiborne Parish Government

Claiborne Parish (French : Paroisse de Claiborne) is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1828, [1] and was named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,170. [2] The parish seat is Homer. [3]

Contents

History

John Murrell moved his family from Arkansas to the Flat Lick Bayou area about 6 miles west of present-day Homer in 1818, and they became the first known non-natives to permanently settle in Claiborne Parish. As more settlers moved into the area, the Murrell house served as a church, school and post office. When the state legislature created Claiborne Parish out of Natchitoches Parish in 1828, all governmental business, including court, began being held in the Murrell house. This continued until the new parish's police jury selected Russellville (now a ghost town located northeast of Athens) as the parish seat. [4] [5] [6] As the population began swelling in what was then the western part of the parish, the seat was moved to Overton (another modern ghost town found near Minden) in 1836, because of its position at the head of the navigable portion of Dorcheat Bayou. Due to flooding and health concerns, the parish seat was moved to Athens in 1846, but an 1848 fire destroyed the courthouse and all the records in it. Soon thereafter the Claiborne Police Jury chose the present site for the parish seat, which came to be named, Homer. [7] [8]

Much of the area history is preserved in the Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum, located across from the parish courthouse in Homer.[ citation needed ]

Government and infrastructure

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections operates the David Wade Correctional Center in an unincorporated section of Claiborne Parish near Homer and Haynesville. [9] [10]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 767 square miles (1,990 km2), of which 755 square miles (1,960 km2) is land and 13 square miles (34 km2) (1.6%) is water. [11]

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

National protected area

Communities

Map of Claiborne Parish Louisiana With Municipal Labels.PNG

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
1830 1,764
1840 6,185250.6%
1850 7,47120.8%
1860 16,848125.5%
1870 20,24020.1%
1880 18,837−6.9%
1890 23,31223.8%
1900 23,029−1.2%
1910 25,0508.8%
1920 27,88511.3%
1930 32,28515.8%
1940 29,855−7.5%
1950 25,063−16.1%
1960 19,407−22.6%
1970 17,024−12.3%
1980 17,0950.4%
1990 17,4051.8%
2000 16,851−3.2%
2010 17,1952.0%
2020 14,170−17.6%
2021 (est.)14,038 [12] −0.9%
U.S. Decennial Census [13]
1790-1960 [14] 1900-1990 [15]
1990-2000 [16] 2010-2013 [2]
Claiborne Parish racial composition as of 2020 [17]
RaceNumberPercentage
White (non-Hispanic)7,06449.85%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)6,13843.32%
Native American 430.3%
Asian 420.3%
Other/Mixed 4042.85%
Hispanic or Latino 4793.38%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,170 people, 5,917 households, and 3,718 families residing in the parish. [17]

Politics

With a narrow majority of African Americans in the population, Claiborne Parish in the years after the civil rights movement was primarily Democratic in political complexion. In 1988, Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush prevailed in Claiborne Parish with 3,756 votes (53.6 percent). Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts trailed with 3,158 votes (45.1 percent). [18] In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas, obtained 3,609 votes (53.6 percent) in Claiborne Parish. Republican Bob Dole of Kansas polled 2,500 votes (37.1 percent). [19]

However, by 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona easily carried the parish in his losing race to Barack H. Obama. McCain polled 3,750 votes (54.8 percent) to Obama's 3,025 votes (44.2 percent). [20] In 2012, Mitt Romney carried the parish, with 3,649 votes (54.2 percent), nearly identical to the McCain tally four years earlier. President Obama received 3,014 votes (44.8 percent), or .6 of 1 percent greater than his earlier tabulation. [21]

United States presidential election results for Claiborne Parish, Louisiana [22]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.%No.%No.%
2020 3,77057.29%2,73141.50%791.20%
2016 3,58555.83%2,71742.31%1191.85%
2012 3,64954.20%3,01444.77%691.02%
2008 3,75054.82%3,02544.22%660.96%
2004 3,70455.87%2,85443.05%721.09%
2000 3,38453.88%2,72143.32%1762.80%
1996 2,50037.10%3,60953.55%6309.35%
1992 2,59937.15%3,26346.64%1,13416.21%
1988 3,75653.60%3,15845.07%931.33%
1984 4,34960.29%2,78838.65%771.07%
1980 3,53850.01%3,44348.67%931.31%
1976 3,21651.81%2,89146.58%1001.61%
1972 3,43264.08%1,55128.96%3736.96%
1968 1,11718.70%1,54525.87%3,31155.43%
1964 3,91789.04%48210.96%00.00%
1960 1,33634.67%48912.69%2,02952.65%
1956 2,08453.63%81020.84%99225.53%
1952 2,79664.63%1,53035.37%00.00%
1948 2659.51%45716.40%2,06474.08%
1944 57820.32%2,26679.68%00.00%
1940 1875.78%3,04994.22%00.00%
1936 1465.39%2,56394.54%20.07%
1932 612.16%2,76597.84%00.00%
1928 24913.76%1,56086.24%00.00%
1924 544.13%1,25295.87%00.00%
1920 483.80%1,21696.20%00.00%
1916 151.16%1,27698.76%10.08%
1912 101.18%78592.24%566.58%

Education

Claiborne Parish School Board serves the entire parish. [23]

Claiborne Academy is a private institution in an unincorporated area in the parish, near Haynesville. [24]

Notable people

Prominent Claiborne Parish residents include or have included:

Patrick Floyd Garrett, Sheriff of Lincoln County New Mexico, and killer of Billy the Kid, lived here as a child, the family having moved from Alabama to Louisiana in late 1850s

See also

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References

  1. Harris, D. W.; Hulse, B. M. (1886). The History of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. New Orleans, LA: W. H. Stansbury & Company. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "QuickFacts Caliborne Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  3. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  4. Burr, Murphy J. "Murrell family pioneered in Claiborne Parish". www.thepineywoods.com/. The Piney Woods Journal. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  5. Volentine, Linda; Herring, Susan T. "Bridges Mill School Remembered". The Guardian-Journal. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  6. Herring, Susan T. (April 29, 1999). ""Father Of Claiborne Parish" John Murrell Arrived In August Of 1819". www.usgwarchives.net/. The Guardian-Journal. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  7. Harris, D. W.; Hulse, B. M., eds. (1886). The History of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, From Its Incorporation in 1828 to the Close of the Year 1885. New Orleans: W. B. Stansbury & Co. pp.  19–20, 103.
  8. "Russellville: Ghost Town of Claiborne Parish". claiborneone.org. Archived from the original on July 7, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  9. "David Wade Corr. Center Archived 2011-01-27 at the Wayback Machine ." Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections . Accessed September 14, 2008.
  10. "Inmate wants his privileges restored." The Advocate . January 11, 1990. Retrieved on October 2, 2010. "But Mule was transferred to Wade Correctional Center in Haynesville[...]"
  11. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  12. "QuickFacts Claiborne Parish, Louisiana" . Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  13. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  14. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  15. "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  16. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  17. 1 2 "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  18. "Claiborne Parish presidential election returns, November 8, 1988". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  19. "Claiborne Parish presidential election returns, November 5, 1996". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  20. "Claiborne Parish presidential election returns". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  21. "Claiborne Parish presidential election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  22. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  23. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Claiborne Parish, LA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved February 11, 2024. - Text list
  24. "image007.gif Archived 2011-06-27 at the Wayback Machine ." Claiborne Academy. Retrieved on October 2, 2010. "6741 Highway 19, Haynesville, LA 71038."
  25. Bibb, Henry (1849). Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself. New York: The Author.
  26. "John Killen Home". Minden Memories. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  27. "Joe C. LeSage, Jr., obituary". The Shreveport Times . September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  28. Exhibit, Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum, Homer, Louisiana
  29. Wade Room, Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum, Homer, Louisiana
  30. "Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012" (PDF). house.louisiana.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
  31. "State Rep. Wilkerson Killed in Auto Accident". house.legis.state.la.us. August 1, 2000. Archived from the original on March 6, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  32. "Restaurant inspired by popular Lake Claiborne eatery coming to Cross Lake". Shreveport Times . Retrieved February 14, 2014.

32°49′N92°59′W / 32.82°N 92.99°W / 32.82; -92.99