Mansfield, Louisiana

The Mansfield State Historic Site, four miles south of Mansfield, commemorates the 1864 Battle of Mansfield.

Another look at downtown Mansfield

Community Bank of Louisiana in Mansfield

Mansfield City Hall is located across U.S. Highway 84 from the United States Post Office.

The U.S. Post Office in Mansfield

The First Baptist Church of Mansfield is located at 1710 McArthur Drive (U.S. Highway 84).

Historical marker at Mansfield State Historic Site referring to role of First Baptist Church during the battle of Mansfield

Mansfield is a small city in and the parish seat of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States.Template:GR The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census, a decline of more than 10 percent from the 2000 tabulation. Mansfield is 77 percent African American. Mansfield is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The Battle of Mansfield, a Confederate victory under General Richard Taylor (son of Zachary Taylor), was fought here on April 8, 1864. This battle turned 42,000 Union troops away from their conquest of the Louisiana Confederate capital, Shreveport, and sent them in retreat to New Orleans. The battle is commemorated at the Mansfield State Historic Site some four miles south of Mansfield off Louisiana Highway 175.

The first woman's college west of the Mississippi River, Mansfield Female College, was founded by the Methodist Church there in 1855. A two-year college, its first class graduated in 1856. Financial difficulties and the threat of war closed the college from 1860 to the end of the American Civil War, during which its buildings served as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the battle of Mansfield; it reopened in 1865. In 1930, Mansfield Female College merged with Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport and closed its doors permanently. In 2003, the Louisiana State Legislature moved to convert the main building of Mansfield Female College, the Lyceum, into a future museum.

The film The Great Debaters was partially shot in Mansfield and released on December 25, 2007. The story line involves a 1930s debate team from Marshall, Texas. The downtown scenes of Marshall, however, were actually shot on location in downtown Mansfield. The film stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker and was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 2008.

Notable residents

Mansfield was the childhood home of Joshua Logan, an award winning director, producer, playwright and screenwriter for film and stage. He is most famous for directing Hollywood classics such as South Pacific, Picnic, Paint Your Wagon, Sayonara, Bus Stop and Fanny. Logan received the Pulitzer Prize at the age of forty for the libretto of South Pacific, which he cowrote with Oscar Hammerstein II. Logan used Mansfield as the setting for his play The Wisteria Trees. Ocie Lee Smith was an American singer, who performed with Count Basie's band from 1961 to 1965 and sang on the 1969 Grammy Award-winning recording of the song "Little Green Apples". He was born in Mansfield on June 21, 1932.

Mansfield is the birthplace of major league baseball player Vida Blue (born Vida Rochelle Blue, Jr. on July 28, 1949), a left-handed starting pitcher. In a 17-year career, he played for the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, and Kansas City Royals. Mansfield is also the birthplace of Albert Lewis (born Albert Ray Lewis on October 6, 1960). Lewis made his professional debut in the NFL in 1983 with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Los Angeles Raiders over the course of his 16-year career.

Others affiliated with Mansfield by birth or residence include:

• John T. "Tommy" Allen, staff photographer for the Washington Post from 1960 to 2004
• John H. Eastman (1861–1938), mayor of Shreveport from 1910 to 1914, was born in Mansfield in 1861.
• Charles Wheaton Elam (1866–1917), state representative
• Joseph Barton Elam (1821–1885), U.S. representative
• Joe Henry Cooper (1920–1980) state representative
• Walter M. Lowrey (1921–1980), historian
• Sidney Maiden (born 1923), blues musician, a singer and harmonica player who played with guitarist K.C. Douglas
• Sammy Joe Odom (1941–2001) professional football player. Odom was a college football standout at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and played a season for the Houston Oilers in 1964.
• Mack Charles Reynolds (1935–1991), professional football player
• H.O. West (1900–1981), department store retailer opened first store in Mansfield before relocating to Minden

Geography

Mansfield is located at 32°1′58″N 93°42′9″W (32.032782, -93.702475)Template:GR and has an elevation of 335 feet (102.1 m)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2010, there were 5,200 people, 2,500 households, and 1,450 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,515.4 people per square mile (585.7/km²). There were 2,298 housing units at an average density of 623.9 per square mile (241.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 34.13% White, 64.26% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.47% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.59% of the population.

There were 2,054 households out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.3% were married couples living together, 27.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.3% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% 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 3.20.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.6% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 82.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $21,981, and the median income for a family was $26,683. Males had a median income of $30,239 versus $19,854 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,850. About 27.2% of families and 33.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 44.1% of those under age 18 and 26.4% of those age 65 or over.