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Greenwood, Louisiana

Coordinates: 32°26′10″N 93°57′50″W / 32.43611°N 93.96389°W / 32.43611; -93.96389
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Greenwood, Louisiana
Suburban town
Town of Greenwood
Greenwood Municipal Complex
Greenwood Municipal Complex
Official logo of Greenwood, Louisiana
Wordmark
Motto: 
Gateway to Louisiana
Location of Greenwood in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.
Location of Greenwood in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Coordinates: 32°26′10″N 93°57′50″W / 32.43611°N 93.96389°W / 32.43611; -93.96389
Country United States
State Louisiana
ParishCaddo
Founded1839
Government
Area
[1]
 • Total9.01 sq mi (23.34 km2)
 • Land8.99 sq mi (23.29 km2)
 • Water0.02 sq mi (0.04 km2)
Elevation
249 ft (76 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total3,166
 • RankCD: 3rd
 • Density352.01/sq mi (135.91/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code318
FIPS code22-31705
Websitegreenwoodla.org

Greenwood is a suburban town in southern Caddo Parish, which is located in the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 3,166 at the 2020 United States census,[2] it is the third most populous incorporated municipality in Caddo Parish after Shreveport and Blanchard. Part of the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan statistical area, it is located 15 miles west of downtown Shreveport.

History

Greenwood was established by European Americans in 1839 after the forced Indian Removal of the Caddo people to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) west of the Mississippi River.

The Dunn House, a hospital for wounded Confederates, now serves as headquarters of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce

During the American Civil War Battle of Mansfield in April 1864, Confederate wounded were treated at the historic Dunn House built in the 1840s.[3] It is now located next to the Greenwood Town Hall on Highway 80. Several other historic houses located in Greenwood, including the Trosper House,[4] have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

As in the rest of Louisiana, most Black or African Americans were disenfranchised from the turn of the 20th century into the 1960s, and the state was dominated by white Democrats; Caddo Parish Sheriff J. Howell Flournoy, who served a record 26 years in office from 1940 to 1966, was born in Greenwood in 1891 and was part of the political Flournoy dynasty.[5]

On March 3, 1964, Owen Dickson Adams (January 13, 1926 – April 18, 2017) of Greenwood and B. F. O'Neal, Jr., of Shreveport, later a state representative, were elected as Republicans to the historically Democratic-dominated Caddo Parish Commission. It was then known as the police jury, equivalent to the county commission in other states.[6] This was in a period of considerable cultural change as the Civil Rights movement was underway; the federal Civil Rights Act was passed later in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Blacks had been disenfranchised in Louisiana since the turn of the century, when passage of a new constitution included barriers to voter registration. White Democrats then began to join the Republican Party.

Adams served on the police jury until 1976; O'Neal until 1968, when Adams won his second term. He was the only Republican in Caddo Parish that year to win an election.[7] An engineer with Spectra Energy, then known as Texas Eastern, Adams relocated to Houston, Texas. On retirement, he returned to Greenwood and subsequently served twelve years as mayor and three terms on the city council. He died at the age of ninety-one and is interred at Forest Park West Cemetery in Shreveport.[8]

Earnest Lampkins (1928-2018), a native of Shreveport, earned a PhD and had a career as a music educator. He taught music at all levels, becoming supervisor of music for Caddo Parish. He founded the Louisiana School of Professions.[9] In 2004, Lampkins was elected as the first black mayor of Greenwood, where he had long been active in the community. Against running for a second term, Lampkins ceased any intentions due to gunshots fired into his house, alongside continued threats and racism.[10][11]

Geography

Greenwood is located in western Caddo Parish at 32°26′10″N 93°57′50″W / 32.43611°N 93.96389°W / 32.43611; -93.96389 (32.436051, -93.963902).[12] Greenwood Road (U.S. Routes 80 and 79) is the main route through the center of town. Interstate 20 passes through the northern part of the town, with access from exits 3 and 5. Downtown Shreveport is 15 miles (24 km) to the east, and Waskom, Texas, is 6 miles (10 km) to the west. Carthage, Texas, is 31 miles (50 km) to the southwest down U.S. 79. Greenwood is approximately 165 miles east of Dallas, Texas, and about 290 miles northwest of New Orleans.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Greenwood has a total area of 9.0 square miles (23.3 km2), of which 0.02 square miles (0.04 km2), or 0.19%, is water.[13]

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
1970212—
19801,043392.0%
19902,092100.6%
20002,45817.5%
20103,21931.0%
20203,166−1.6%
U.S. Decennial Census[14]
Greenwood racial and ethnic composition as of 2020[15]
Race and ethnicity Number Percentage
White (non-Hispanic) 1,908 60.27%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 859 27.13%
Native American 22 0.69%
Asian 24 0.76%
Other/Mixed 193 6.1%
Hispanic or Latino 160 5.05%

Since the establishment of Greenwood, its population was overshadowed by the larger and nearby Shreveport to its east, and Waskom, Texas to the west; at the 1970 United States census, the town of Greenwood had a population of 212. In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau tabulated a population of 3,166,[15] down from the historic high of 3,219 at the 2010 United States census. At the publication of the 2020 census, Greenwood remained the third largest community in Caddo Parish, while Blanchard overtook Vivian as the second-largest.

There were 1,351 households at the 2020 American Community Survey's 5 year estimates program, among which 755 were married-couple households.[16] The average family size was 2.80, and the average household size was 2.34; in 2000, the average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00. Among its population, 92.3% have attained a high school diploma or higher, and 27.2% of residents attained a bachelor's degree or higher.[16]

In 2000, the median income for a household in the town was $40,408, and the median income for a family was $52,955. Males had a median income of $38,750 versus $26,622 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,374. About 9.3% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over. In 2018, the American Community Survey determined the median income was $60,809; the mean income was $91,984, making Greenwood one of the wealthiest communities within the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area.[17] During the American Community Survey's 2020 census estimates, its median household income was $55,034; the mean income also slightly declined to $86,979.[18]

For a majority of Greenwood's history, the town has been predominantly non-Hispanic white, though diversification has broadened the racial and ethnic makeup of the suburban community alongside much of the United States.[19]

According to the 2000 U.S. census,[2] the racial and ethnic makeup of Greenwood was 77.01% White American, 20.63% Black or African American, 0.41% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.33% Asian, 0.16% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.45% from other races and ethnicities, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino Americans of any race were 1.79% of the population. By the 2020 census, its racial and ethnic makeup was 60.27% non-Hispanic white, 27.13% Black or African American, 0.69% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.76% Asian, 6.1% multiracial or of another race or ethnicity, and 5.05% Hispanic or Latino American of any race.[15] The growing Hispanic or Latino American population reflected nationwide demographic trends following the 2014 to 2019 census estimates and 2020 census.[20]

According to Sperling's BestPlaces in 2020, the population of Greenwood has remained primarily Christian.[21] Dominated by Protestantism as most of North and Central Louisiana, Baptists were the largest Christian tradition by adherence. Baptists in Greenwood are mainly served by the Southern Baptist Convention, though the predominantly Black or African American National Baptist Convention of America and National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. have congregations throughout the area. Following, Methodists and Pentecostals dominated the religious landscape, with Catholic Christians served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shreveport.

References

  1. ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "U.S. Census website". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ "Dunn House". Greenwood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  4. ^ "National Register of Historic Places (Trosper House)". National Park Service. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "HistoricalFacts". Caddo History. Caddo Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
  6. ^ Shreveport Journal, 4 March 1964, p. 1.
  7. ^ Shreveport Journal, 7 February 1968, p. 1.
  8. ^ "Owen Adams obituary". The Shreveport Times. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  9. ^ Obituary: Earnest Lampkins, first published in Shreveport Times, 16 January 2018
  10. ^ "Former Greenwood Mayor Ernest Lampkins dies". KTBS. Retrieved 2022-05-04. But Lampkins' toughest personal test came in 2007 during his first term as mayor of Greenwood, just west of Shreveport. Lampkins decided not to seek a second term, largely because someone fired shots into his home. He, his wife and one of their children were home but no one was hurt. "If I had any intentions of running again, that just killed my ambitions right away," Lampkins said at the time. "That was a cowardly act. It bothered me that someone would shoot in my house and endanger my wife and kid."
  11. ^ Flaherty, Jordan (2010-03-26). "Did a Racist Coup in a Northern Louisiana Town Overthrow Its Black Mayor and Police Chief? | Dissident Voice". Dissident Voice. Retrieved 2022-05-04. Less than two weeks after that, shots were fired into the house of Earnest Lampkins, the first Black mayor of the northwest Louisiana town of Greenwood. Lampkins reported that he continued to receive threats throughout his term, including a "for sale" sign that someone planted outside his house.
  12. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  13. ^ "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Greenwood town, Louisiana". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  14. ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  15. ^ a b c "2020 Race and Population Totals". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  16. ^ a b "2020 ACS Selected Social Characteristics". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  17. ^ "Annual Income Estimates for Greenwood in 2018". data.census.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  18. ^ "2020 ACS Annual Income Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  19. ^ Frey, William H. (2021-08-13). "New 2020 census results show increased diversity countering decade-long declines in America's white and youth populations". Brookings. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  20. ^ Passel, Jeffrey S.; Lopez, Mark Hugo; Cohn, D’Vera. "U.S. Hispanic population continued its geographic spread in the 2010s". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  21. ^ "Greenwood, Louisiana Religion". bestplaces.net. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
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