Marksville, Louisiana facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marksville, Louisiana
City
City of Marksville
Motto(s):  Where Everybody is Somebody
Location of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana.
Marksville, Louisiana Location in Louisiana
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Avoyelles
Founded	1794
Area
• Total	4.83 sq mi (12.50 km2)
• Land	4.81 sq mi (12.47 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Population  (2020)
• Total	5,065
• Density	1,052.36/sq mi (406.28/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	71351
Area code	318
FIPS code	22-48750

Marksville is a small city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,702 at the 2010 census, an increase of 165 over the 2000 tabulation of 5,537.

Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. It is operated by the federally recognized Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, which has a reservation in the parish.

History

Marksville is named after Marc Eliche (Marco Litche, as recorded by the Spanish), a Jewish-Italian immigrant who established a trading post after his wagon broke down in this area. He was a Sephardic Jewish trader from Italy, believed to be from Venice. His Italian name was recorded by a Spanish priest as Marco Litche, and as Marc Eliche or Mark Eliché by French priests after his trading post was established about 1794. Marksville was noted on Louisiana maps as early as 1809, after the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Eliche later donated the land that became the Courthouse Square. It is still the center of Marksville.

Marksville today has a population made up of numerous Cajun peoples. Many of the families have been there since the city was incorporated. These families include Gaspard, Sylvan, Trahan, Malveaux, and Zachary.

Marksville became the trading center of a rural area developed as cotton plantations. After the United States ended the African slave trade in 1808, planters bought African-American slaves through the domestic slave trade to use as workers; a total of more than one million were transported to the Deep South from the Upper South in the first half of the 19th century. Planters typically bought slaves from the markets in New Orleans, where they had been taken via the Mississippi River or by the coastal slave trade at sea. Solomon Northup, a free black from Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery; he was held for nearly 12 years on plantations in Avoyelles Parish, and was freed in 1853 with the help of Marksville and New York officials. Northup's memoir was the basis of the 2013 movie "12 Years A Slave."

During the American Civil War, Marksville late in 1862 hosted Confederate soldiers from Texas. According to historian John D. Winters, they

"built wooden huts to shelter themselves from the icy winds and rain. At night, after the usual camp routines, the men amused themselves around their campfires with practical jokes and group singing or sat listening to the music of a regimental band. Some of the soldiers often gathered under an arbor of boughs to dance jigs, reels, and doubles to the music of several fiddles. On the opposite side of the camp, another arbor served as a church. There at night with the area lighted by pine knots, men listened to the exhortations and prayers of the preacher and sang favorite hymns."

Marksville came under Union control in 1863 as part of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River campaign. It was occupied by Union troops for the remainder of the war.

Geography

Marksville is located at 31°7′36″N 92°3′58″W / 31.12667°N 92.06611°W / 31.12667; -92.06611 (31.126595, −92.066073).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (11 km²), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km²) is land and 0.24% is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,065 people, 2,145 households, and 1,150 families residing in the city.

National Guard

1020th Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in Marksville.

Small communities in the area

• Brouillette
• Fifth Ward
• Moncla
• Spring Bayou
• Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation

Education

All primary public schools are run by the Avoyelles Parish School Board, which operates two schools within the city of Marksville. In January 2018, 5 children from Marksville died in a car accident while traveling through Gainesville, Florida.

Elementary

• Marksville Elementary

High school

• Marksville High School

Notable people

• D'Anthony Batiste (born 1982), Former University of Louisiana at Lafayette football player; former National Football League player; Canadian Football League player
• Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parish politician impacted by the political effects of Hurricane Katrina
• Dylan Dauzat social media celebrity and model known for publishing YouTube videos and other content on Instagram, Twitter, Vine, and Facebook
• Edwin Edwards, four-term Governor of Louisiana
• Elaine Schwartzenburg Edwards, US senator in 1972
• H. Claude Hudson, civil rights activist and founder of Broadway Federal Savings and Loan
• Jeannette Knoll, associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court since 1997; long-time Marksville resident
• Chad Lavalais, former LSU and NFL football player
• Tommy Neck (pronounced NICK), LSU and NFL football player from the 1960s
• John H. Overton (1875–1948), U.S. senator, native of Marksville
• Gaston Porterie, former Attorney General of the State of Louisiana
• Charles Addison Riddle III, District Attorney since 2003; former State Representative, 1992–2003
• Little Walter Jacobs, blues musician, 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Ed Oliver, NFL football player
• Matthew "Boogie Jake" Jacobs, blues musician

See also

In Spanish: Marksville (Luisiana) para niños