Claiborne Parish, Louisiana Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Parish
The Claiborne Parish Courthouse was built in 1860 in Greek style. It served as a point of departure for Confederate troops.
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Region	North Louisiana
Founded	March 15, 1828
Named for	William C. C. Claiborne
Parish seat	Homer
Largest municipality	Lisbon (area) Homer (population)
Area
• Total	1,990 km² (767 sq mi)
• Land	1,960 km² (755 sq mi)
• Water	30 km² (13 sq mi)
• percentage	4 km² (1.6 sq mi)
Population (2020)
• Total	14,170
• Estimate (2021)	14,038
• Density	7.133/km² (18.475/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code	318
Congressional district	4th

Claiborne Parish (French: Paroisse de Claiborne) is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1828, and was named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,170. The parish seat is Homer.

History
Geography
Communities
Demographics
Education
Notable people
Gallery
See also

History

John Murrell moved his family from Arkansas to the Flat Lick Bayou area about 6 miles west of present-day Homer in 1818, and they became the first known non-natives to permanently settle in Claiborne Parish. As more settlers moved into the area, the Murrell house served as a church, school and post office. When the state legislature created Claiborne Parish out of Natchitoches Parish in 1828, all governmental business, including court, began being held in the Murrell house. This continued until the new parish's police jury selected Russellville (now a ghost town located northeast of Athens) as the parish seat. As the population began swelling in what was then the western part of the parish, the seat was moved to Overton (another modern ghost town found near Minden) in 1836, because of its position at the head of the navigable portion of Dorcheat Bayou. Due to flooding and health concerns, the parish seat was moved to Athens in 1846, but an 1848 fire destroyed the courthouse and all the records in it. Soon thereafter the Claiborne Police Jury chose the present site for the parish seat, which came to be named, Homer.

Much of the area history is preserved in the Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum, located across from the parish courthouse in Homer.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 767 square miles (1,990 km²), of which 755 square miles (1,960 km²) is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) (1.6%) is water.

Major highways

Future Interstate 69
U.S. Highway 79
Louisiana Highway 2
Louisiana Highway 9

Adjacent parishes

National protected area

Kisatchie National Forest (part)

Communities

Towns

Haynesville
Homer (parish seat and largest municipality)

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Arizona
Lake Claiborne
Marsalis
Russellville
Summerfield

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	1,764	—
1840	6,185	250.6%
1850	7,471	20.8%
1860	16,848	125.5%
1870	20,240	20.1%
1880	18,837	−6.9%
1890	23,312	23.8%
1900	23,029	−1.2%
1910	25,050	8.8%
1920	27,885	11.3%
1930	32,285	15.8%
1940	29,855	−7.5%
1950	25,063	−16.1%
1960	19,407	−22.6%
1970	17,024	−12.3%
1980	17,095	0.4%
1990	17,405	1.8%
2000	16,851	−3.2%
2010	17,195	2.0%
2020	14,170	−17.6%
2021 (est.)	14,038	−18.4%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2013

Claiborne Parish racial composition as of 2020
Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	7,064	49.85%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	6,138	43.32%
Native American	43	0.3%
Asian	42	0.3%
Other/Mixed	404	2.85%
Hispanic or Latino	479	3.38%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,170 people, 5,917 households, and 3,718 families residing in the parish.

Education

Claiborne Parish School Board serves the entire parish.

Claiborne Academy is a private institution in an unincorporated area in the parish, near Haynesville.

Notable people

Prominent Claiborne Parish residents include or have included:

Henry Walton Bibb American author, abolitionist, and former slave from 1839 to 1841
T. H. Harris, state education superintendent from 1908 to 1940.
Andrew R. Johnson was a state senator from Claiborne and Bienville parishes from 1916 to 1924.
John Sidney Killen, state representative for Claiborne Parish in 1871
Joe LeSage, state senator for Caddo Parish from 1968 to 1972; Shreveport attorney born in Homer
George H. Mahon, Former U.S. Representative.
James T. McCalman, state senator from Claiborne and Bienville parishes from 1960 to 1964.
Danny Roy Moore, state senator from 1964 to 1968.
Dave L. Pearce, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1952 to 1956 and 1960–1976.
Larry Sale, sheriff of Claiborne Parish from 1936 to 1944; bodyguard at the assassination of Huey Pierce Long Jr.
Richard Stalder, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
David Wade, Lieutenant General of the United States Air Force.
Loy F. Weaver, state representative from 1976 to 1984.
Mule Watson, pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1918 to 1924.
Pinkie C. Wilkerson state representative from 1992 to 2000.
Patrick Floyd Garrett, Sheriff of Lincoln County New Mexico, and killer of Billy the Kid.