Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Parish in Louisiana, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bossier Parish (/ˈboʊʒər/ BOH-zhər; French: Paroisse de Bossier [paʁwas də bɔsje]) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 128,746.[1]

Country United States
FoundedFebruary 24, 1843
Parish seatBenton
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
Quick facts Country, State ...
Bossier Parish
Parish
Parish of Bossier
Paroisse de Bossier (French)
Renovated Bossier Parish Courthouse in Benton
Renovated Bossier Parish Courthouse in Benton
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
Country United States
State Louisiana
RegionNorth Louisiana
FoundedFebruary 24, 1843
Named afterPierre Bossier
Parish seatBenton
Largest cityBossier City
Area
 • Total
867 sq mi (2,250 km2)
 • Land840 sq mi (2,200 km2)
 • Water27 sq mi (70 km2)
 • percentage3.1 sq mi (8.0 km2)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
128,746
 • Density150/sq mi (59/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code318
Congressional district4th
Websitebossierparishla.gov
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The parish seat is Benton.[2] The principal city is Bossier City, which is located east of the Red River and across from the larger city of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The parish was formed in 1843 from the western portion of Claiborne Parish.[3][4] Bossier Parish is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area, the largest metropolitan area in North Louisiana.

Lake Bistineau and Lake Bistineau State Park are included in parts of Bossier and neighboring Webster and Bienville parishes. Loggy Bayou flows south from Lake Bistineau in southern Bossier Parish, traverses western Bienville Parish, and in Red River Parish joins the Red River.

History

Arnold-Tidwell House near the Cypress Lake recreational area is one of three antebellum homes still standing in Bossier Parish.[5]
Willis Knighton Hospital in Bossier City serves much of northern Bossier Parish.
Swimmers at Cypress Lake on a cloudy summer day

Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier,[6] an ethnic French, 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.

Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War. In July 1861, at the start of the war, the Bossier Parish Police Jury appropriated $35,000 for the benefit of Confederate volunteers and their family members left behind, an amount then considered generous.[7]

After the war, whites used violence and intimidation to maintain dominance over the newly emancipated freedmen. From the end of Reconstruction into the 20th century, violence increased as conservative white Democrats struggled to maintain power over the state. In this period, Bossier Parish had 26 lynchings of African Americans by whites, part of racial terrorism. This was the fifth-highest total of any parish in Louisiana, tied with the total in Iberia Parish in the South of the state.[8] Overall, parishes in northwest Louisiana had the highest rates of lynchings.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 867 square miles (2,250 km2), of which 840 square miles (2,200 km2) is land and 27 square miles (70 km2) (3.1%) is water.[9] Four miles east of Bossier City is Barksdale Air Force Base.

Major highways

Adjacent counties and parishes

National protected area

Communities

Cities

Towns

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

More information Census, Pop. ...
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18506,962—
186011,34863.0%
187012,67511.7%
188016,04226.6%
189020,33026.7%
190024,15318.8%
191021,738−10.0%
192022,2662.4%
193028,38827.5%
194033,16216.8%
195040,13921.0%
196057,62243.6%
197064,51912.0%
198080,72125.1%
199086,0886.6%
200098,31014.2%
2010116,97919.0%
2020128,74610.1%
2023 (est.)129,795[11]0.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[12]
1790-1960[13] 1900-1990[14]
1990-2000[15] 2010[16]
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2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the parish had a population of 128,746 people, 50,092 households, and 33,963 families. The median age was 36.2 years; 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18, and 14.8% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 96.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.7 males age 18 and over.[17]

Of the households, 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 46.6% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[17]

The racial makeup of the parish was 63.0% White, 23.4% Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.9% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 3.8% from some other race, and 7.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 8.0% of the population.[18]

72.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 27.2% lived in rural areas.[19]

There were 55,237 housing units, of which 9.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 64.1% were owner-occupied and 35.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 11.3%.[17]

Racial and ethnic composition

More information Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic), Pop 1980 ...
Bossier Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 1980[20] Pop 1990[21] Pop 2000[22] Pop 2010[23] Pop 2020[24] % 1980 % 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 63,127 65,812 71,701 80,991 78,982 78.20% 76.45% 72.93% 69.24% 61.35%
Black or African American alone (NH) 15,024 17,301 20,347 24,245 29,868 18.61% 20.10% 20.70% 20.73% 23.20%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 188 274 440 533 573 0.23% 0.32% 0.45% 0.46% 0.45%
Asian alone (NH) 416 867 1,216 1,873 2,341 0.52% 1.01% 1.24% 1.60% 1.82%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) x [25] x [26] 79 154 113 x x 0.08% 0.13% 0.09%
Other race alone (NH) 256 35 94 128 480 0.32% 0.04% 0.10% 0.11% 0.37%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) x [27] x [28] 1,370 2,029 6,152 x x 1.39% 1.73% 4.78%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,710 1,799 3,063 7,026 10,237 2.12% 2.09% 3.12% 6.01% 7.95%
Total 80,721 86,088 98,310 116,979 128,746 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
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2010 census

According to the 2010 U.S. census, there were 116,979 people, 62,000 households, and 37,500 families residing in the parish. The population density was 142 inhabitants per square mile (55/km2). There were 49,000 housing units at an average density of 48 per square mile (19/km2).[16]

The racial makeup of the parish in 2010 was 70.66% White, 18.52% Black or African American, 0.82% Native American, 2.18% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 1.00% from other races, and 1.65% from two or more races; 8.15% of the population were Hispanic or Latino American of any race.[23]

Law, government and politics

Bossier Parish is governed by a 12-member elected body: the Bossier Parish Police Jury (which is equivalent to a county commission in other states). Members are elected from single-member districts.The current members of the police jury are:

  • District 1 - Bob Brotherton
  • District 2 - Glenn Benton
  • District 3 - Philip Rogers
  • District 4 - John Ed Jordan
  • District 5 - Julianna Parks
  • District 6 - Chris Marsiglia
  • District 7 - Jimmy Cochran
  • District 8 - Douglas E. Rimmer
  • District 9 - Charles Gray
  • District 10 - Jerome Darby
  • District 11 - Tom Salzer
  • District 12 - Paul M. "Mac" Plummer[29]

Since the late 20th century, the non-Hispanic white population of the parish has shifted from the Democratic to the Republican Party (as have most conservative whites in Louisiana and other Southern U.S. states). The state was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party from the period after the turn of the century (when most Blacks were disenfranchised in Louisiana) to the mid-20th century.

Bossier Parish has since reliably voted for Republican candidates in most contested U.S. presidential elections. Since 1952, George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama who ran in 1968 on the American Independent Party ticket, has been the only non-Republican to carry Bossier Parish.[30][31]

In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona won in Bossier Parish with 32,713 votes (71.4 percent) over Democrat Barack H. Obama of Illinois, who received 12,703 votes (27.8 percent).[32] In 2012, Mitt Romney polled 34,988 votes (72 percent) in Bossier Parish (2,275 more ballots than McCain drew in 2008). President Obama won 12,956 (26.6) of the votes in Bossier Parish.[33]

More information Year, Republican ...
United States presidential election results for Bossier Parish, Louisiana[34]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No. %No. %No. %
1912 6 1.23% 427 87.68% 54 11.09%
1916 9 1.32% 675 98.68% 0 0.00%
1920 44 5.68% 731 94.32% 0 0.00%
1924 48 5.84% 751 91.36% 23 2.80%
1928 225 15.93% 1,187 84.07% 0 0.00%
1932 56 2.49% 2,191 97.51% 0 0.00%
1936 193 8.89% 1,975 91.01% 2 0.09%
1940 275 8.23% 3,045 91.17% 20 0.60%
1944 622 20.37% 2,430 79.59% 1 0.03%
1948 338 8.72% 1,147 29.59% 2,391 61.69%
1952 3,677 57.81% 2,683 42.19% 0 0.00%
1956 3,107 48.97% 1,954 30.80% 1,284 20.24%
1960 3,429 39.32% 2,198 25.21% 3,093 35.47%
1964 9,822 83.53% 1,937 16.47% 0 0.00%
1968 3,745 23.74% 2,782 17.63% 9,249 58.63%
1972 12,856 78.63% 2,914 17.82% 580 3.55%
1976 12,132 59.22% 8,062 39.35% 293 1.43%
1980 16,515 62.70% 9,377 35.60% 447 1.70%
1984 22,638 76.01% 7,006 23.52% 138 0.46%
1988 20,807 69.16% 9,035 30.03% 243 0.81%
1992 15,628 47.64% 11,313 34.49% 5,860 17.87%
1996 16,852 47.63% 15,504 43.82% 3,026 8.55%
2000 23,224 64.66% 11,933 33.23% 758 2.11%
2004 30,040 70.34% 12,317 28.84% 348 0.81%
2008 32,713 71.37% 12,703 27.71% 419 0.91%
2012 34,988 72.05% 12,956 26.68% 618 1.27%
2016 35,474 71.16% 12,641 25.36% 1,733 3.48%
2020 38,074 69.66% 15,662 28.66% 919 1.68%
2024 37,105 71.04% 14,467 27.70% 660 1.26%
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National Guard

The 165th CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion is headquartered in Bossier City. This unit was deployed to Iraq in 2008. Also located in Bossier City is the 156TH Army Band which deployed as part of the 256th Infantry Brigade in 2010 to Iraq.

Education

Bossier Parish School Board operates public schools in the parish.[35]

It is in the service areas of Bossier Parish Community College and Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College.[36]

Notable people

See also

References

External links

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