Grant Parish, Louisiana

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Grant Parish, Louisiana
Parish
Parish of Grant
Grant Parish, LA, Courthouse IMG 2397.JPG
Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax
Map of Louisiana highlighting Grant 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 Central Louisiana
Founded1869
Named after Ulysses S. Grant
Parish seat Colfax
Largest town Montgomery (area)
Colfax (population)
Area
 • Total
1,720 km2 (665 sq mi)
 • Land1,670 km2 (643 sq mi)
 • Water60 km2 (22 sq mi)
 • percentage9 km2 (3.3 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
22,169
 • Density13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Time zone UTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code 318
Congressional district 5th
Grant Parish sign off U.S. Hwy. 71 IMG 6631.JPG
The Grant Parish Library is located near the courthouse. Grant Parish Library, Colfax, LA IMG 2395.JPG
The Grant Parish Library is located near the courthouse.
The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office is located behind the courthouse. Grant Parish Sheriff's Office, Colfax, LA IMG 2405.JPG
The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office is located behind the courthouse.
Colfax Reunion Nursing and Rehabilitation Home at 366 Webb Smith Drive in Colfax serves all of Grant Parish. Reunions Nursing Home, Colfax LA IMG 2386.JPG
Colfax Reunion Nursing and Rehabilitation Home at 366 Webb Smith Drive in Colfax serves all of Grant Parish.

Grant Parish is a parish located in the North Central portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,169. [1] The parish seat is Colfax. [2] The parish was founded in 1869 during the Reconstruction era. [3]

Contents

Grant Parish is part of the Alexandria, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area and Red River Valley. From 1940 to 1960, the parish had a dramatic population loss, as many African Americans from the plantation areas left in the Great Migration to seek better opportunities in the North and West. Such migration continued until about 1970. One of the eleven parishes organized during Reconstruction, Grant was created from parts of Winn and Rapides parishes.

Grant Parish is the site of United States Penitentiary, Pollock.

History

Grant Parish was originally a part of the more populous Rapides Parish to the south. Prior to the American Civil War, the center of activity focused upon "Calhoun's Landing," named for the cotton and sugar planter Meredith Calhoun, a native of South Carolina. Calhoun also published the former National Democrat newspaper in what became Colfax, designated as the seat of government of the new parish. [4]

Grant was one of several new parishes created by the Reconstruction legislature in an attempt to build the Republican Party in the state. Founded in 1869, it had a slight majority of freedmen, many of whom had worked on cotton plantations in the area. It was named for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant. [5] The parish seat of Colfax was named for Grant's first vice president, Schuyler M. Colfax (whose name is pronounced COAL-facks) of Indiana. However, the town of Colfax is pronounced CAHL-facks. The parish came into existence on March 4, 1869, which also was the day of President Grant's first inauguration. [6] The parish encompassed both cotton plantations and pinewoods. It was one of several areas along the Red River that had considerable violence during Reconstruction, as whites tried to maintain social control.

The gubernatorial election of 1872 was disputed in the state, and both the Democrats and Republicans certified their slates of local officers. Two inaugurations were held. The election was finally settled in favor of the Republican candidates, but the decision was disputed in certain areas. As social tensions rose, Republican officials took their places at the courthouse in Colfax. They were defended by freedmen and state militia (mostly made up of freedmen), who feared a Democratic Party takeover of the parish. Amid widespread rumors, whites organized a militia and advanced on the courthouse on Easter Sunday, 1873. In the ensuing violence, three whites and 120-150 blacks were killed, including 50 that night who were held as prisoners. Leading late 20th-century historians renamed the Colfax Riot, the original state designation, as the Colfax Massacre . The total number of freedmen deaths were never established because some of the bodies were thrown into the river and woods.

The white militia was led by Christopher Columbus Nash, a Confederate officer who had been a prisoner of war at Johnson's Island in Ohio. It consisted of veterans from Grant and neighboring parishes. The following year, Nash gathered many of the white militia members as the basis of the first chapter of the White League. Other chapters quickly grew up across the state. The White League's organized violence in support of the Democratic Party included widespread intimidation of black voters. The League was integral to white Democrats' regaining power in the state by 1876. Soon after, they effectively disfranchised most blacks, a situation that persisted until after federal enforcement of Civil Rights-era legislation of the mid-1960s.

Nativity scene

In December 2016, a courthouse nativity scene in Colfax drew a complaint from the New Orleans chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. In a letter to the Grant Parish Police Jury, the ACLU said that officials must include secular symbols of the Christmas holiday if a nativity scene is placed alone on public property. District Attorney Jay Lemoine objected to the ACLU challenge in a statement to Alexandria Town Talk : "There have been various holiday displays presented both inside and outside the courthouse over many years. This year, as in years past, they include both secular and non-secular symbols. It is unfortunate that some are offended by these displays during this holiday season, as that was not the intent." [7]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 665 square miles (1,720 km2), of which 643 square miles (1,670 km2) is land and 22 square miles (57 km2) (3.3%) is water. [8]

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

National protected area

Fossil site

The most famous fossil sites within Louisiana are Creola Bluff at Montgomery Landing Site in the parish. [9] The Montgomery Landing Site was a 500 meters (1,600 ft) long and 14 meters (46 ft) high bluff that was the cutbank on the east side of the Red River. It exposed the top of the Cockfield Formation, the Moodys Branch Formation, and Tullos Member of the Yazoo Clay. In 1979, it was the site of a large whale skeleton discovery. [9]

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
1870 4,517—
1880 6,18837.0%
1890 8,27033.6%
1900 12,90256.0%
1910 15,95823.7%
1920 14,403−9.7%
1930 15,7099.1%
1940 15,9331.4%
1950 14,263−10.5%
1960 13,330−6.5%
1970 13,6712.6%
1980 16,70322.2%
1990 17,5264.9%
2000 18,6986.7%
2010 22,30919.3%
2020 22,169−0.6%
U.S. Decennial Census [10]
1790-1960 [11] 1900-1990 [12]
1990-2000 [13] 2010 [14]

2020 census

Grant Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980 [15] Pop 1990 [16] Pop 2000 [17] Pop 2010 [18] Pop 2020 [19] % 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020
White alone (NH)13,71514,73915,85917,36116,67882.11%84.10%84.82%77.82%75.23%
Black or African American alone (NH)2,7822,5212,2123,4413,06016.66%14.38%11.83%15.42%13.80%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)24781572051930.14%0.45%0.84%0.92%0.87%
Asian alone (NH)26292453670.16%0.17%0.13%0.24%0.30%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x [20] x [21] 586xx0.03%0.04%0.03%
Other race alone (NH)4653420.02%0.03%0.03%0.01%0.19%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x [22] x [23] 85307790xx0.45%1.38%3.56%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)1521532139311,3330.91%0.87%1.14%4.17%6.01%
Total16,70317,52618,56022,30922,169 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 22,169 people, 6,989 households, and 4,651 families residing in the parish.

2000 census

As of the census [24] of 2000, there were 18,698 people, 7,073 households, and 5,276 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 inhabitants per square mile (11/km2). There were 8,531 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5.0/km2). The racial makeup of the parish was 85.43% White, 11.88% Black or African American, 0.89% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.28% from two or more races. 1.14% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The decreases in population from 1910 to 1920, and from 1940 to 1960, were chiefly caused by different phases of the Great Migration, as African Americans left segregation and oppression of the South to seek better opportunities in the North, during the first phase, and in the West, especially California's defense industry, in the second phase. Tens of thousands of migrants left Louisiana during times of agricultural difficulties and the collapse of agricultural labor after mechanization. [25]

In 2000, there were 7,073 households, out of which 36.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.20% were married couples living together, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.40% were non-families. 22.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the parish the population was spread out, with 28.30% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 12.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.00 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $29,622, and the median income for a family was $34,878. Males had a median income of $31,235 versus $20,470 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $14,410. About 16.90% of families and 21.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.30% of those under age 18 and 16.20% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The Federal Bureau of Prisons U.S. Penitentiary, Pollock is located in an unincorporated area in the parish, near Pollock. [26] [27]

Politics

Today Grant Parish is majority white and votes strongly Republican. Mitt Romney polled 7,082 votes (81.7 percent) in his 2012 race against the Democrat U.S. President Barack H. Obama, who trailed with 1,422 votes (16.4 percent). [28] In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona swept the parish, with 6,907 votes (80.7 percent) to Obama's 1,474 (17.2 percent). [29] In every election since then, the Republican candidate has broken the record for the strongest performance by a candidate from that party in Parish history.

In 1992, George Herbert Walker Bush carried Grant Parish but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection. He polled 3,214 votes (40.8 percent) to Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas's 3,122 (39.6 percent). This son of the South carried numerous other Republican-leaning jurisdictions. Ross Perot, who later founded the Reform Party, polled 1,174 (14.9 percent). [30] In 1996, Republican Robert J. Dole narrowly won in Grant Parish over U.S. President Bill Clinton, a son of the South, with 3,117 votes (42.8 percent) to 2,980 (40.9 percent). Ross Perot polled another 1,055 (14.5 percent). [31]

The last Democrat to win in Grant Parish at the presidential level was former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia in his 1976 defeat of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., who had Bob Dole as his vice-presidential partner. [32] [33]

United States presidential election results for Grant Parish, Louisiana [34]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No. %No. %No. %
1912 152.09%44662.20%25635.70%
1916 314.59%64094.81%40.59%
1920 10913.92%67486.08%00.00%
1924 16721.92%59578.08%00.00%
1928 50533.05%1,02366.95%00.00%
1932 813.96%1,96696.00%10.05%
1936 51121.67%1,84778.33%00.00%
1940 2328.39%2,53491.61%00.00%
1944 55622.28%1,93977.72%00.00%
1948 2739.61%1,12039.44%1,44750.95%
1952 1,44335.29%2,64664.71%00.00%
1956 1,63046.06%1,54243.57%36710.37%
1960 1,25432.30%1,21931.40%1,40936.30%
1964 3,29269.36%1,45430.64%00.00%
1968 1,11320.18%93216.90%3,47062.92%
1972 3,62676.51%85918.13%2545.36%
1976 2,28037.16%3,67059.81%1863.03%
1980 3,61150.52%3,29046.03%2473.46%
1984 5,33465.88%2,58831.96%1752.16%
1988 4,40260.76%2,62836.27%2152.97%
1992 3,21440.80%3,12239.63%1,54219.57%
1996 3,11742.75%2,98040.87%1,19516.39%
2000 4,78467.81%2,09929.75%1722.44%
2004 5,91173.97%1,97724.74%1031.29%
2008 6,90780.71%1,47417.22%1772.07%
2012 7,08281.71%1,42216.41%1631.88%
2016 7,40883.98%1,18113.39%2322.63%
2020 8,11786.42%1,15712.32%1181.26%
2024 7,92587.88%99611.04%971.08%

Education

Public schools in Grant Parish are operated by the Grant Parish School Board.

National Guard

A Company 199TH FSB (Forward Support Battalion) resides in Colfax, Louisiana. This unit deployed twice to Iraq as part of the 256TH IBCT in 2004-5 and 2010.

Communities

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

Other communities

Prison

NameAddressZipAged
Grant Parish Detention Center Richardson Drive, Colfax, Louisiana 7141718+

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Census - Geography Profile: Grant Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Grant Parish". Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Calhoun, Meredith". A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. Louisiana Historical Association. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp.  141.
  6. ↑ Lane, Charles, The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction , 2008, page 42
  7. ↑ Melissa Gregory (December 20, 2016). "ACLU to Grant Parish: Courthouse display needs to change". The Alexandria Town Talk . Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  8. ↑ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Underwood, Angela (July 26, 2022). "States with the most dinosaur fossils". www.kfyrtv.com. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  10. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  13. ↑ "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 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  15. ↑ "1980 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Louisiana - Table 14 - Persons by Race and Table 15 - Total Persons and Spanish Origin Persons by Type of Spanish Origin and Race (p. 20/12-20/20)" (PDF). United States Census Bureau .
  16. ↑ "1990 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Louisiana - Table 6 - Race and Hispanic Origin" (PDF). United States Census Bureau . p. 15-38.
  17. ↑ "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Grant Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau .
  18. ↑ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Grant Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau .
  19. ↑ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Grant Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau .
  20. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
  21. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
  22. ↑ not an option in the 1980 Census
  23. ↑ not an option in the 1990 Census
  24. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  25. ↑ "African American Migration Experience: The Second Great Migration", New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Archived November 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , accessed April 24, 2008
  26. ↑ "USP Pollock." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on May 29, 2010.
  27. ↑ "USP Pollock Contact Information Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine ." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on May 29, 2010.
  28. ↑ "Grant Parish election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  29. ↑ "Grant Parish election returns, November 4, 2008". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  30. ↑ "Grant Parish election returns, November 3, 1992". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  31. ↑ "Grant Parish election returns, November 5, 1996". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  32. ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Presidential election returns, November 2, 1976
  33. ↑ "General Election Returns". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  34. ↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Joe T. Cawthorn". Many, Louisiana: Sabine Index. November 16, 1967. Retrieved October 28, 2014.

31°35′N92°34′W / 31.59°N 92.56°W / 31.59; -92.56

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