Claiborne Parish, Louisiana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
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| Parish of Claiborne | |
The Claiborne Parish Courthouse was built in 1860 in Greek style. It served as a point of departure for Confederate troops.
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Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
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Louisiana's location within the U.S.
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| 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
(2010)
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| • Total | 17,195 |
| • Estimate
(2018)
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15,944 |
| • Density | 8.656/km2 (22.419/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 2010 census, the population was 17,195. The parish seat is Homer.
Contents
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 in 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.
John Ardis Cawthon of Louisiana Tech University studied several Claiborne Parish ghost towns in his book of local history, Ghost Towns of Old Claiborne. He recalls the words of a relative, George Washington Dance, "When the courthouse moved, the glory departed. The village is now an old worn-out field."
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
U.S. Highway 167
Louisiana Highway 2
Louisiana Highway 9
Adjacent parishes
- Columbia County, Arkansas (northwest)
- Union County, Arkansas (northeast)
- Union Parish (east)
- Lincoln Parish (southeast)
- Bienville Parish (south)
- Webster Parish (west)
National protected area
- Kisatchie National Forest (part)
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
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| 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% | |
| 2018 (est.) | 15,944 | −7.3% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2013 |
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2020 census
| Race | Number | Percentage |
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| 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.
Communities
Towns
Villages
Unincorporated communities
- Arizona
- Lake Claiborne
- Russellville
- Summerfield
Gallery
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Begun by Ruth Gantt Prince (1928-2014) and owned and operated by Daniel and Caitlin Prince, the Port-au-Prince Restaurant on Louisiana Highway 146 at Lake Claiborne specializes in catfish. The Princes are opening a second similar restaurant on Cross Lake in Shreveport.
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Rolled hay in a farm field north of Athens (May 2010)
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Typical of parts of rural Louisiana is this abandoned house in western Claiborne Parish.
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There is a Trinity Southern Methodist Church in Homer and a Claiborne Southern Methodist congregation, a conservative theological body separate from the United Methodists, located north of Homer.
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Holly Springs Baptist Church west of Homer on U.S. Highway 79 is among rural congregations in Claiborne Parish. It has maintained a small cemetery since 1952 located across the highway from the sanctuary.
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Claiborne Academy
Education
Claiborne Parish School Board serves the 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:
- Alfred Goodwill, landowner in Claiborne Parish who in 1880 established the largest general store in Louisiana in Minden in Webster Parish
- T. H. Harris, pioneer educator and state education superintendent from 1908 to 1940, was born in the Arizona community in Claiborne Parish in 1869, the son of a Baptist minister. Another Claiborne Parish educator, John Sparks Patton, once ran against Harris for education superintendent and himself served on the Louisiana Public Service Commission until he was unseated in 1942 by Jimmie Davis. Patton is remembered for his crusade to establish taxpayer-funded school textbooks.
- Andrew R. Johnson was a state senator from Claiborne and Bienville parishes from 1916 to 1924. He was previously the mayor of Homer and introduced electric lights and water works to the community.
- John Sidney Killen, state representative for Claiborne Parish in 1871; placed in Webster Parish with its creation from Claiborne Parish, had farm and cattle operation north of Minden
- 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.
- Enos C. McClendon, Jr., judge of the Louisiana 26th Judicial District Court based in Minden; Homer native.
- Danny Roy Moore of Homer and later Arcadia in Bienville Parish is a former member of the Louisiana State Senate, with service from 1964 to 1968.
- Dave L. Pearce, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1952-1956 and 1960-1976, was born in Claiborne Parish in 1904 but later served in the state legislature from West Carroll Parish.
- Richard Stalder, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, is a former warden at David Wade Correctional Center in Homer.
- David Wade, Lieutenant General of the United States Air Force, former commander of Barksdale Air Force Base, state corrections director and adjutant general, was reared in the Holly Springs community of Claiborne Parish.
- Loy F. Weaver, a retired banker who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976 to 1984.
- Mule Watson, pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1918–24, was born in Arizona, Louisiana in Claiborne Parish.
- Pinkie C. Wilkerson represented Claiborne Parish in the state House from 1992, having defeated Kenneth Volentine in the 1991 general election. She served until her death in a six-vehicle accident in Bossier City on August 1, 2000. Volentine was subsequently elected sheriff in 1995 and 1999.
Frederick Douglass "Fred" Lewis, resident of Lisbon, was one of the first three African-Americans elected to serve on the Claiborne Parish School Board. He was the president of the civil rights organization known as the Claiborne Parish Civic League from 1965-1973. Lewis led the organization in filing a 1972 lawsuit that improved the lives of African-Americans in Claiborne Parish. Mr. Lewis's contributions helped the Friendship CME Church of Lisbon to be listed on May 31, 2016 in the National Register of Historic Places.
Frederick "Fred" Kirkpatrick was from Haynesville. He made an impact in the United States as an athlete, educator, civil rights activist, minister, and folksinger during the 1960s and 1970s. Most notably, Rev. Kirkpatrick was co-founder of the Deacons for Defense and Justice. The Deacons protected prominent civil rights activists when they visited the South, and they protected black families during the 1960s era of cross burnings and harassment. Fred Kirkpatrick received his Bachelor's Degree from Grambling State University where he also played football.
See also
In Spanish: Parroquia de Claiborne para niños
