Covington, Louisiana

Covington is a city in and the parish seat of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States.Template:GR The population was 8,483 at the 2000 census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River.

Covington is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The earliest known settlement by Europeans in the area was in 1800 by Jacques Dreux. In 1813 John Wharton Collins established a town there with the name of Wharton. He is buried on the corner of the city cemetery directly across from the City Hall.

The city was renamed after General Leonard Covington, a hero of the War of 1812.

Commerce was brought here by boat up the Bogue Falaya, which connects through the Tchefuncte River to Lake Pontchartrain.

In 1888 the railroad came to town.

In the late 20th century many people who worked in New Orleans started living in Covington, commuting across Lake Pontchartrain on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. The town's population continues to grow.

Hurricane Katrina

Though Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Slidell, Louisiana, Covington was sufficiently elevated to escape the massive storm surge; however, the city suffered devastating wind damage. Following the storm, Covington, along with the rest of the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, experienced a population boom as a result of many former inhabitants of the New Orleans area being forced to move out of their storm-ravaged homes.

Geography

Covington is located at 30°28′44″N 90°6′15″W (30.479002, -90.104029)Template:GR and has an elevation of 26 feet (7.9 m).Template:GR

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²), of which, 6.8 square miles (17.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (1.45%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 8,483 people, 3,258 households, and 2,212 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,248.0 people per square mile (481.7/km²). There were 3,565 housing units at an average density of 524.5 per square mile (202.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.45% White, 20.17% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.34% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 1.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.56% of the population.

There were 3,258 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples living together, 17.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% 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 3.10.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.8% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,949, and the median income for a family was $50,332. Males had a median income of $36,434 versus $23,859 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,438. About 11.8% of families and 16.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.5% of those under age 18 and 17.2% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest

• According to the 2000 Census, Covington had 6 houses valued at $1,000,000 or more.

Notable people

• Ernest Angelo, Texas oilman and Republican politician, was reared in Covington.
• Jack Donahue, current state senator from St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes; resides in Mandeville
• Frank Burton Ellis, state senator (1940–1944), U.S. District Court judge, 1962–1965
• Elizabeth Futrall, an opera soprano, was reared in Covington. Her father was minister of the Covington First Baptist Church for many years.
• Robert Higgs, a prominent American economist, currently resides in Covington.
• Blanche Long, the First Lady of Louisiana from 1939–1940, 1948–1952, and 1956–1960, was born in Covington in 1902.
• NBA all-star "Pistol" Pete Maravich lived in Covington until his death in 1988.
• Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, attended school at the C.J. Schoen Middle School, formerly Covington Elementary School, located in downtown Covington.
• Author and essayist Walker Percy moved to Covington in 1950 where he and wife Mary "Bunt" Percy reared their two daughters. He wrote most of his works there until his death in 1990. He is buried at St. Joseph Abbey, a monastery north of Covington.
• Philip Granville "Phil" Short is a former Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate, who served from 1996 until his resignation in 1999. Short, who grew up in Shreveport, unseated the legendary B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn, Sr., in the 1995 general election. He subsequently moved to Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia.
• Nilo Silvan, played professional football for Tampa Bay Bucs; born and raised in Covington.
• Ian Somerhalder, actor/model was born in Covington.
• Michael G. Strain, the commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry. Having won the seat from 28-year incumbent Robert Fred "Bob" Odom.
• Diane Winston, businesswoman; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes (1996–2008)

Movies filmed in Covington

• 1995 — Dead Man Walking
• 1995 — Kingfish
• 1997 — Kasi Lemmons' Eve's Bayou
• 2008 — The Yellow Handkerchief
• 2009 — I Love You Phillip Morris
• 2010 — Pregnancy Pact

External links

• City of Covington
• Visit Covington