Bienville Parish, Louisiana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bienville Parish, Louisiana | |
| Map | |
 Location in the state of Louisiana |
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 Louisiana's location in the U.S. |
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| Statistics | |
| Founded | March 14, 1848 |
|---|---|
| Seat | Arcadia |
| Largest city | Arcadia |
| Area - Total - Land - Water |
822 sq mi (2,128 km²) 811 sq mi (2,100 km²) 11 sq mi (29 km²), 1.35% |
| Population - (2000) - Density |
15,752 19/sq mi (8/km²) |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
| Named for: Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, founder of New Orleans | |
Bienville Parish (French: Paroisse de Bienville) is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752.
The highest point in Louisiana, a hill known as Mt. Driskill, 535 feet (163 m) in elevation, is located in north central Bienville Parish. The mountain is located on private land with public access by walking trail. It is named for James Christopher Driskill, a 19th century landowner. Nearby is Jordan Mountain, with an elevation of 493 feet (150 m).
Lake Bistineau and Lake Bistineau State Park embrace parts of Bienville and neighboring Webster and Bossier parishes.
Contents |
[edit] History
The notorious bandits Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed when captured in Bienville Parish in 1934. The Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland contains memorabilia about the capture. It is operated by Ted Hinton, son of one of the officers involved in the capture.
[edit] Law, government, religion
Bienville Parish is a traditional Democratic stronghold though it supported the Republican presidential nominees, Barry M. Goldwater in 1964 and Richard M. Nixon in 1972. It is one of three parishes—the others are neighboring Red River and St. Bernard near New Orleans -- to have rejected the successful GOP gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. However, President George W. Bush secured a close victory in the parish in 2004. He polled 3,612 votes (50 percent) to 3,399 (47 percent) for Democrat John F. Kerry. In 2008, John S. McCain won in Bienville Parish by a 187-vote margin over the Democrat Barack H. Obama, 3,776-3,589.[1]
Bienville Parish was represented in the Louisiana State Senate from 1948-1960 by a fiery segregationist and unsuccessful 1959 Democratic gubernatorial candidate William M. Rainach of neighboring Claiborne Parish.
Lorris M. Wimberly, a Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, was a native and resident of Arcadia. Wimberly served in the House from 1928-1940 and again from 1948-1956; he was Speaker from 1936-1940, 1950-1952, and briefly in 1956. His father, Joseph Rush Wimberly, I, served in the legislature from 1900-1908 and was thereafter a judge.
The last state representative whose district included only Bienville Parish was John Len Lacy of Castor, who served a single term from 1964-1968 and had been a member of the Bienville Parish School Board for thirty-two years.
Bienville Parish has various churches, mostly of the Baptist denomination. Many are in rural areas and often have cemeteries adjacent to the sanctuaries. For instance, the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery is located south of Ringgold off Louisiana State Highway 4. The Louisiana Baptist Convention was founded in 1848 at historic Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in the community of Mount Lebanon, originally settled by pioneers from South Carolina. The First Baptist Church and the First United Methodist Church in Arcadia are particularly impressive structures for a smaller community.
[edit] Geography
The parish has a total area of 822 square miles (2,128 km²), of which, 811 square miles (2,100 km²) of it is land and 11 square miles (29 km²) of it (1.35%) is water. The highest point in Louisiana, Driskill Mountain (535 ft), is located in Bienville Parish. Driskill Mountain is 11 miles (18 km) south of Arcadia at Latitude 32 degree, 25 minutes North; Longitude 92 degree 54 minutes West.
Loggy Bayou flows south from Lake Bistineau and traverses Bienville Parish west of Ringgold before it enters Red River Parish and thereafter joins the Red River.
[edit] Major highways
[edit] Adjacent parishes
- Claiborne Parish (north)
- Lincoln Parish (northeast)
- Jackson Parish (east)
- Winn Parish (southeast)
- Natchitoches Parish (south)
- Red River Parish (southwest)
- Bossier Parish (west)
- Webster Parish (northwest)
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Webster Parish | Claiborne Parish | Lincoln Parish | |
| Bossier Parish |  |
Jackson Parish | ||
 Bienville Parish, Louisiana  |
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| Red River Parish | Natchitoches Parish | Winn Parish |
[edit] Demographics
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 5,539 |
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| 1860 | 11,000 | 98.6% | |
| 1870 | 10,636 | −3.3% | |
| 1880 | 10,442 | −1.8% | |
| 1890 | 14,108 | 35.1% | |
| 1900 | 17,588 | 24.7% | |
| 1910 | 21,776 | 23.8% | |
| 1920 | 20,977 | −3.7% | |
| 1930 | 23,789 | 13.4% | |
| 1940 | 23,933 | 0.6% | |
| 1950 | 19,105 | −20.2% | |
| 1960 | 16,726 | −12.5% | |
| 1970 | 16,024 | −4.2% | |
| 1980 | 16,387 | 2.3% | |
| 1990 | 15,979 | −2.5% | |
| 2000 | 15,752 | −1.4% | |
| Est. 2006 | 15,168 | [3] | −3.7% |
| Bienville Parish Census Data[4] | |||
As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 15,752 people, 6,108 households, and 4,214 families residing in the parish. The population density was 19 people per square mile (8/km²). There were 7,830 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 54.92% White, 43.78% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.55% from two or more races. 0.95% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 6,108 households out of which 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.70% were married couples living together, 17.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 28.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the parish the population was spread out with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 24.60% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.80 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $23,663, and the median income for a family was $30,241. Males had a median income of $28,022 versus $18,682 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $12,471. About 21.80% of families and 26.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.00% of those under age 18 and 23.20% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Communities
[edit] Cities and towns
[edit] Education
The Bienville Parish School Board operates area public schools.
[edit] Media
Bienville Parish is served by the weekly Bienville Democrat newspaper, edited in Arcadia by Priscilla Smith. The former editor was Wayne E. Dring.
[edit] Notable natives and residents
- Barbara Colley, romance and mystery novelist, was born in Ringgold in 1947.
- Hubert N. Davis, Bienville Parish sheriff, 1952-1972
- Bill DeMott, a professional wrestler, maintains a house in Bienville Parish.
- Caroline Dormon (1888-1971), a Louisiana botanist and preservationist, grew up in Bienville Parish.
- Jamie Fair, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1980-1984
- Charlie Hennigan, American Football League player from the 1960s
- Sue Woodard Huckaby (1943-2008), Realtor in northern Virginia, ranked tenth of 2 million in the United States. A Ringgold native, she was the wife of former U.S. Representative Jerry Huckaby. Her father, E.S. "Scotty" Woodard, is a Bienville Parish landowner.
- Henderson Jordan (1896-1958), sheriff of Bienville Parish, 1932-1940; participated in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1934; interred in Arcadia Cemetery
- John Len Lacy, represented Bienville Parish in the Louisiana House from 1964-1968.
- Sallie Williams Lacy, wife of Len Lacy and his successor as a member of the Bienville Parish School Board, having served from 1964-1972
- Prentiss Oakley (1905-1957), one of six law-enforcement officials involved in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde; sheriff, 1940-1952
- E.S. Richardson, a leading Louisiana educator, was the school superintendent in Bienville Parish from 1916-1920. He left to take the superintendency in his native Webster Parish. Later, he was president of Louisiana Tech University.
- Lee Smith, pitcher
- F. Jay Taylor, president of Louisiana Tech University from 1962-1987, was born in Gibsland in 1923.
- Arvis Edward Whitman (1923-1996), parish sheriff from 1972-1988
- Duvall Cortez Wimberly, a Ringgold native, was a retired educator and the president of American Ex-Prisoners of War.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Louisiana election returns, November 4, 2008". sos.louisiana.gov. http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcmp&rqsdta=11040801017141. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "Obituary of Lucille Pate Wheeler (1911-2009)". Minden Press-Herald. http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17137&Itemid=33. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ United States Census Bureau. "Bienville Parish Quickfacts". http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/22013.html. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ United States Census Bureau. "Louisiana Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/la190090.txt. Retrieved 2008-02-02.; Report on the Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census, 1890. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1895.
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
[edit] External links
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