Jackson Parish, Louisiana
| Jackson Parish, Louisiana | |
 The Jackson Parish Courthouse in Jonesboro
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 Location in the state of Louisiana |
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 Louisiana's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1845 |
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| Named for | U.S. President Andrew Jackson |
| Seat | Jonesboro |
| Largest city | Jonesboro |
| Area - Total - Land - Water |
580 sq mi (1,503 km²) 570 sq mi (1,476 km²) 11 sq mi (27 km²), 1.82% |
| Population - (2010) - Density |
16,274 28/sq mi (10.8/km²) |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
Jackson Parish (French: Paroisse de Jackson) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1845 from parts of Claiborne, Ouachita, and Union Parishes. In 2010, its population was 16,274. The parish seat is Jonesboro. Jackson Parish is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.
East of Jonesboro is the Jimmie Davis State Park, which includes part of Caney Lake.
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Jackson Parish in the Civil War [edit]
During the American Civil War Confederate General Richard Taylor sent five companies into Jackson and Winn parishes to arrest conscripts who failed to report for duty and to halt jayhawker groups in the area. General Edmund Kirby-Smith, moreover, directed that "all men who shirked their military duty be hunted down and forced into camp. Those who tried to escape the conscript hunters would be shot. The terrain of Louisiana with its many canebrakes, swamps, and hills in which to hide, made such an order difficult to carry out," explains the historian John D. Winters in The Civil War in Louisiana (1963).[1]
Geography [edit]
The parish has a total area of 580 square miles (1,502.2 km2), of which 570 square miles (1,476.3 km2) is land and 11 square miles (28.5 km2) (1.82%) is water.
Major highways [edit]
Adjacent parishes [edit]
- Lincoln Parish (north)
- Ouachita Parish (northeast)
- Caldwell Parish (southeast)
- Winn Parish (south)
- Bienville Parish (west)
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Lincoln Parish | Ouachita Parish | |
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| Bienville Parish |  |
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| Winn Parish | Caldwell Parish |
Demographics [edit]
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 15,397 people, 6,086 households, and 4,302 families residing in the parish. The population density was 27 people per square mile (10/km²). There were 7,338 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 71.01% White, 27.87% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 6,086 households out of which 31.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% were married couples living together, 14.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.30% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01.
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
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| 1900 | 9,119 |
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| 1910 | 13,818 | 51.5% | |
| 1920 | 14,486 | 4.8% | |
| 1930 | 13,808 | −4.7% | |
| 1940 | 17,807 | 29.0% | |
| 1950 | 15,434 | −13.3% | |
| 1960 | 15,828 | 2.6% | |
| 1970 | 15,963 | 0.9% | |
| 1980 | 17,321 | 8.5% | |
| 1990 | 15,705 | −9.3% | |
| 2000 | 15,397 | −2.0% | |
| 2010 | 16,274 | 5.7% | |
| Jackson Parish Census Data[3] | |||
In the parish the population was spread out with 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 16.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.50 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $28,352, and the median income for a family was $36,317. Males had a median income of $31,977 versus $19,992 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $15,354. About 16.00% of families and 19.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.30% of those under age 18 and 15.80% of those age 65 or over.
Cities and towns [edit]
Education [edit]
Public schools in Jackson Parish are operated by the Jackson Parish School Board.
Notable persons [edit]
- Rodney Alexander, Republican U.S. representative
- H. Welborn Ayres, judge of the Second Judicial District Court in Jonesboro, 1942–1953
- David T. Caldwell, Second Judicial District Court judge, 1970–1982
- Jimmie Davis, former Democratic governor and a singer by profession.
- Randy Ewing, former Louisiana State Senate President and a 2003 Democratic gubernatorial contender.
- James R. Fannin, state representative from Jackson Parish since 2003
- E.L. "Bubba" Henry, former Democratic Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, served in the House from District 13 from 1968–1980, the last eight of those years as Speaker
- Berry Hinton, native of Clay/Vernon communities; baseball coach at Louisiana Tech University from 1943 until 1967
- Arnold R. Kilpatrick (1920–2005), former president of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches
- Robert W. Mondy (1908–1997), historian at Louisiana Tech University who taught in Jackson Parish public schools in the early 1930s
- Robert Edwin Russ, the founder of Ruston, lived in Jackson Parish before moving to Lincoln Parish.
- James Monroe Smith (1888–1949), Jackson Parish native who served as president of Louisiana State University from 1930–1939; forced to resign in "Louisiana Hayride" scandals of 1939[4]
- Joseph Tabarlet (1900–1951), former mayor of Jonesboro[5]
- Neil Thomas (1892–1963), sheriff of Jackson Parish, 1928–1948; former state parole director under the Davis administration; originally a Jonesboro barber[6]
- George T. Walker (1913–2011), president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe from 1958 to 1976, was born and reared in the Wyatt Community of Jackson Parish.[7]
- William Stewart Walker (1914–1999), World War II United States Army officer; Republican congressional candidate, 1964; younger brother of George T. Walker.
Presidential elections [edit]
Jackson Parish was historically part of the Solid South with Governor Al Smith receiving 100 percent of the vote in 1928 in his losing race against Herbert C. Hoover.[8] It has trended more Republican since at least 1960, when Richard M. Nixon led parishwide with 43.9 percent against both John F. Kennedy and a rival slate of unpledged segregationist electors, which included future Governor David C. Treen and Leander Perez of Plaquemines Parish.[9] Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both carried the parish twice. In 1992, Clinton polled 3,370 votes (44.5 percent) to Republican George Herbert Walker Bush's 3,072 (40.6 percent). Another 882 ballots (11.7 percent) were held by Ross Perot of Texas, who ran as an Independent and thereafter founded his Reform Party.[10]
In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, U.S. Senator John S. McCain of Arizona outpolled Barack H. Obama of Illinois by 30 percentage points.[11] In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney carried Jackson Parish.with 5,132 votes (68.2 percent) to President Obama's 2,305 ballots (30.6 percent), a margin of nearly 38 percentage points.[12]
National Guard [edit]
A Company 199TH FSB (Forward Support Battalion) of the 256TH IBCT resides in Jonesboro, Louisiana. This unit has deployed twice to Iraq in 2004-5 and 2010. Also deployed in 1989 for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
See also [edit]
- Historical romance author Jennifer Blake lives in Quitman.
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Jackson Parish, Louisiana
References [edit]
- ^ John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, p. 306
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ United States Census Bureau. "Louisiana Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ "Smith, James Monroe". A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (Louisiana Historical Association). Retrieved March 25, 2011.
- ^ "Tabarlet, Joseph Odell". Louisiana Historical Association, A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (lahistory.org). Retrieved December 28, 2010.
- ^ You Are My Sunshine. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
- ^ "George T. Walker". Monroe News Star. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ David Leip Election Atlas: 1928 statistics
- ^ Louisiana Secretary of State, Presidential election returns by parish, November 8, 1960
- ^ "Jackson Parish presidential election returns, November 3, 1992". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
- ^ The New York Times electoral map (Zoom in on Louisiana)
- ^ "Jackson Parish presidential election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
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