Marksville, Louisiana | |
---|---|
City of Marksville | |
Motto: Where Everybody is Somebody [1] | |
Coordinates: 31°07′36″N92°03′58″W / 31.12667°N 92.06611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Louisiana |
Parish | Avoyelles |
Founded | 1794 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Ryan Hall [2] |
Area | |
• Total | 4.83 sq mi (12.50 km2) |
• Land | 4.81 sq mi (12.47 km2) |
• Water | 0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 5,065 |
• Density | 1,052.36/sq mi (406.28/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
ZIP code | 71351 |
Area code | 318 |
FIPS code | 22-48750 |
Website | www |
Marksville is a small city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,702 at the 2010 census, an increase of 165 over the 2000 tabulation of 5,537. [4]
Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. It is operated by the federally recognized Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, which has a reservation in the parish. [5]
The land where Marksville was founded on was once a meeting place, leading to the present day Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site. [6]
Marksville is named after Marc Eliche (Marco Litche or Marco de Élitxe, as recorded by the Spanish), a Venetian Jew who established a trading post after his wagon broke down in this area. [7] [8] He was a Sephardic Jewish trader believed to be from Venice. [9] His Italian name was recorded by a Spanish priest as Marco Litche; French priests, who were with colonists, recorded his name as Marc Eliche or Mark Eliché [10] after his trading post was established about 1794. Marksville was noted on Louisiana maps as early as 1809, after the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. [10] Eliche later donated the land that became the Courthouse Square. It is still the center of Marksville, the parish seat.
Marksville's population has numerous families of Cajun ancestry, in addition to African Americans, European Americans, and persons of mixed European-African ancestry. Many of the families had ancestors here since the city was incorporated. .
Marksville became the trading center of a rural area developed as cotton plantations. After the United States outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, enslavers purchased African-American slaves through the domestic slave trade; a total of more than one million were transported to the Deep South from the Upper South in the first half of the 19th century. Enslavers typically bought slaves from markets in New Orleans, where they had been taken via the Mississippi River or by the coastal slave trade at sea. Solomon Northup, a free black from Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. After being held for nearly 12 years on plantations in Avoyelles Parish, he was freed in 1853 with the help of Marksville and New York officials. Northup's memoir, which he published after returning to New York, was the basis of the 2013 movie 12 Years A Slave , of the same name.
On March 31, 2017, Judge William Bennett of the 12th Judicial District Court sentenced Stafford to forty years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Jeremy Mardis. He was given a concurrent fifteen years for the attempted manslaughter of Christopher Few. Judge Bennett denied Stafford's defense request for a new trial. Stafford told the court that he did not know Jeremy was strapped in the front seat of the father's vehicle when he fired the fatal shots. [11] Meanwhile, Greenhouse will be tried beginning June 12 on second-degree and attempted second-degree murder counts. [11]
Marksville is located at 31°7′36″N92°3′58″W / 31.12667°N 92.06611°W (31.126595, −92.066073). [12]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (11 km2), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km2) is land and 0.24% is water.
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1870 | 437 | — | |
1880 | 553 | 26.5% | |
1890 | 540 | −2.4% | |
1900 | 837 | 55.0% | |
1910 | 1,076 | 28.6% | |
1920 | 1,185 | 10.1% | |
1930 | 1,527 | 28.9% | |
1940 | 1,811 | 18.6% | |
1950 | 3,635 | 100.7% | |
1960 | 4,257 | 17.1% | |
1970 | 4,518 | 6.1% | |
1980 | 5,113 | 13.2% | |
1990 | 5,526 | 8.1% | |
2000 | 5,537 | 0.2% | |
2010 | 5,702 | 3.0% | |
2020 | 5,065 | −11.2% | |
U.S. Decennial Census [13] |
Race | Number | Percentage |
---|---|---|
White (non-Hispanic) | 2,332 | 46.04% |
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 2,208 | 43.59% |
Native American | 78 | 1.54% |
Asian | 14 | 0.28% |
Other/Mixed | 352 | 6.95% |
Hispanic or Latino | 81 | 1.6% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,065 people, 2,145 households, and 1,150 families residing in the city.
As of the census [15] of 2000, there were 5,537 people, 2,036 households, and 1,400 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,358.0 inhabitants per square mile (524.3/km2). There were 2,198 housing units at an average density of 539.1 per square mile (208.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 51.98% White, 48.59% African American, 0.80% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.11% from other races, and 1.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.65% of the population.
There were 2,036 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.0% were married couples living together, 22.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,750, and the median income for a family was $25,681. Males had a median income of $24,896 versus $15,865 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,546. About 32.0% of families and 34.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 50.1% of those under age 18 and 25.4% of those age 65 or over.
All primary public schools are run by the Avoyelles Parish School Board, which operates two schools within the city of Marksville. [16] In January 2018, 5 children from Marksville died in a car accident while traveling through Gainesville, Florida. [17]
Frequency | Callsign | Format | Owner |
---|---|---|---|
92.1 | KLIL | Classic hit | Cajun Broadcasting |
95.9 | KZLG | Adult contemporary | Cajun Broadcasting |
97.7 | KAPB-FM | Classic country | Bontemps Media Services |
1020th Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in Marksville.
Concordia Parish borders the Mississippi River in eastern central Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,687. The parish seat is Vidalia. The parish was formed in 1807.
Catahoula Parish is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,906. Its seat is Harrisonburg, on the Ouachita River. The parish was formed in 1808, shortly after the United States acquired this territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Avoyelles is a parish located in central eastern Louisiana on the Red River where it effectively becomes the Atchafalaya River and meets the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,693. The parish seat is Marksville. The parish was created in 1807, with the name deriving from the French name for the historic Avoyel people, one of the local Indian tribes at the time of European encounter.
Evergreen is a town in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 310 at the 2010 census. Evergreen is located east of Bunkie.
New Roads is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana was located in New Roads in 2000. The population was 4,831 at the 2010 census, down from 4,966 in 2000. In the 2020 census the population was 4,549, while at the beginning year of 2023 the census showed a population of 4,205 and expects to be under 4,000 by the years end. The city's ZIP code is 70760. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, formerly known as the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana, is a federally recognized tribe of primarily Tunica and Biloxi people, located in east central Louisiana. Descendants of Ofo (Siouan-speakers), Avoyel, and Choctaw (Muskogean) are also enrolled in the tribe.
The Avoyel or Avoyelles were a small Native American tribe who at the time of European contact inhabited land near the mouth of the Red River at its confluence with the Atchafalaya River near present-day Marksville, Louisiana. Also called variously Shi'xkaltī'ni in Tunican and Tassenocogoula, Tassenogoula, Toux Enongogoula, and Tasånåk Okla in the Mobilian trade language; all names are said by early French chroniclers to mean either "Flint People" or "People of the Rocks". This is thought to either reflect their active trading of flint for tools from local sources on their land in the eponymously named modern Avoyelles Parish or more likely as their status as middlemen in trading flint from Caddoan peoples to their north to the stone deficit Atakapa and Chitimacha peoples of the Gulf Coast.
The Mosopelea, or Ofo, were a Siouan-speaking Native American people who historically lived near the upper Ohio River. In reaction to Iroquois Confederacy invasions to take control of hunting grounds in the late 17th century, they moved south to the lower Mississippi River. They finally settled in central Louisiana, where they assimilated with the Tunica and the Siouan-speaking Biloxi. They spoke the Ofo language, generally classified as a Siouan language.
Sesostrie Youchigant, also known as Sam Young, was a chief of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe and the last known native speaker of the Tunica language.
The Biloxi tribe are Native Americans of the Siouan language family. They call themselves by the autonym Tanêks(a) in Siouan Biloxi language. When first encountered by Europeans in 1699, the Biloxi inhabited an area near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near what is now the city of Biloxi, Mississippi. They were eventually forced west into Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Biloxi language--Tanêksąyaa ade--has been extinct since the 1930s, when the last known semi-speaker, Emma Jackson, died.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Louisiana since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. The court held that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional, invalidating Louisiana's ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling clarified conflicting court rulings on whether state officials are obligated to license same-sex marriages. Governor Bobby Jindal confirmed on June 28 that Louisiana would comply with the ruling once the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its decision in a Louisiana case, which the Fifth Circuit did on July 1. Jindal then said the state would not comply with the ruling until the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana reversed its judgment, which it did on July 2. All parishes now issue marriage licenses in accordance with federal law.
The Trudeau Landing site, also known as Tunica Village and Trudeau, is an archaeological site in Tunica, unincorporated West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was once occupied by the Tunica tribe. Later European settlers developed it into the Trudeau Plantation.
The Tunica people are a group of linguistically and culturally related Native American tribes in the Mississippi River Valley, which include the Tunica ; the Yazoo; the Koroa ; and possibly the Tioux. They first encountered Europeans in 1541 – members of the Hernando de Soto expedition.
Earl Joseph Barbry Sr. was an American politician and Native American leader who served as the Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe from 1978 to 2013.
On November 3, 2015, Jeremy Mardis, a six-year-old boy, was killed by police in Marksville, Louisiana, in a shooting that also wounded his father, Chris Few.
Edwin Epps was a slaveholder on a cotton plantation in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. He was the third and longest enslaver of Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and forced into slavery. On January 3, 1853, Northup left Epps's property and returned to his family in New York.
Sue Eakin (1918–2009) was an American history professor at Louisiana State University of Alexandria. She received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and was made a Fellow of American Association of University Women. Eakin researched the story of Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, and published a version of the book that corrected historical inaccuracies.
The Tunica treasure is a group of artifacts from the Tunica-Biloxi tribe discovered in the 1960s. Their discovery led to a protracted legal battle over their ownership, and the eventual passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Horace Pierite Sr. was an American politician, farmer, trapper, and Native American leader.
Horace Pierite Jr. was an American politician, farmer, and Native American leader.