Bossier Parish (/ˈboʊʒər/BOH-zhər; French: Paroisse de Bossier) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 116,979,[1] and 128,746 in 2020.[2]
The parish seat is Benton.[3] 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.[4][5] 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
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, 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 (2,250km2), of which 840 square miles (2,200km2) is land and 27 square miles (70km2) (3.1%) is water.[9] Four miles east of Bossier City is Barksdale Air Force Base.
At the 2020 United States census, there were 128,746 people, 49,735 households, and 33,963 families residing in the parish. 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 squaremile (19/km2).
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. According to the 2019 American Community Survey, the racial and ethnic makeup of the parish was 65.9% non-Hispanic white, 23.2% African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.9% some other race, 1.7% two or more races, and 6.9% Hispanic or Latino American of any race.[16] In 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup was 61.35% non-Hispanic white, 23.2% African American, 0.45% Native American, 1.82% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 5.15% multiracial, and 7.95% Hispanic or Latino American of any race, reflecting nationwide demographic trends of mass diversification.[15][17]
Law, government and politics
Bossier Parish is governed by a 12-member elected body, the Bossier Parish Police Jury (equivalent to county commission in other states). Members are elected from single-member districts. Eddy Shell, a prominent Bossier City educator, was repeatedly re-elected, serving on the police jury from 1992 until his death in 2008.
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. Before this, the state was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party, in the period after the turn of the century when most blacks were disenfranchised in Louisiana.
Bossier Parish has since reliably supported 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, is the only non-Republican to have carried Bossier Parish.[19][20]
In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona won in Bossier Parish with 32,713 votes (71.4 percent) over the Democrat Barack H. Obama of Illinois, who polled 12,703 votes (27.8 percent).[21] In 2012, Mitt Romney polled 34,988 votes (72 percent) in Bossier Parish, or 2,275 more ballots than McCain drew in 2008. President Obama trailed in Bossier Parish with 12,956 votes (26.7 percent), or 253 more votes than he had received in 2008.[22]
In 2011, Bossier Parish elected a Republican, Julian C. Whittington, as sheriff to succeed the long-term Larry Deen. He was a Democrat and later changed his registration to the Republican Party.
United States presidential election results for Bossier Parish, Louisiana[23]
Year
Republican
Democratic
Third party
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
2020
38,074
69.66%
15,662
28.66%
919
1.68%
2016
35,474
71.16%
12,641
25.36%
1,733
3.48%
2012
34,988
72.05%
12,956
26.68%
618
1.27%
2008
32,713
71.37%
12,703
27.71%
419
0.91%
2004
30,040
70.34%
12,317
28.84%
348
0.81%
2000
23,224
64.66%
11,933
33.23%
758
2.11%
1996
16,852
47.63%
15,504
43.82%
3,026
8.55%
1992
15,628
47.64%
11,313
34.49%
5,860
17.87%
1988
20,807
69.16%
9,035
30.03%
243
0.81%
1984
22,638
76.01%
7,006
23.52%
138
0.46%
1980
16,515
62.70%
9,377
35.60%
447
1.70%
1976
12,132
59.22%
8,062
39.35%
293
1.43%
1972
12,856
78.63%
2,914
17.82%
580
3.55%
1968
3,745
23.74%
2,782
17.63%
9,249
58.63%
1964
9,822
83.53%
1,937
16.47%
0
0.00%
1960
3,429
39.32%
2,198
25.21%
3,093
35.47%
1956
3,107
48.97%
1,954
30.80%
1,284
20.24%
1952
3,677
57.81%
2,683
42.19%
0
0.00%
1948
338
8.72%
1,147
29.59%
2,391
61.69%
1944
622
20.37%
2,430
79.59%
1
0.03%
1940
275
8.23%
3,045
91.17%
20
0.60%
1936
193
8.89%
1,975
91.01%
2
0.09%
1932
56
2.49%
2,191
97.51%
0
0.00%
1928
225
15.93%
1,187
84.07%
0
0.00%
1924
48
5.84%
751
91.36%
23
2.80%
1920
44
5.68%
731
94.32%
0
0.00%
1916
9
1.32%
675
98.68%
0
0.00%
1912
6
1.23%
427
87.68%
54
11.09%
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.[24]
It is in the service area of Bossier Parish Community College.[25]
Notable people
William Benton Boggs (1854-1922), first mayor of Plain Dealing (1890) and member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1892 to 1900 for Bossier Parish[26] and the Louisiana State Senate for Bossier and Webster parishes from 1908 to 1916[27]
Dewey E. Burchett Jr., state district court judge for Bossier and Webster parishes, 1988-2008[28]
Roy A. Burrell, state representative from District 2 (Caddo and Bossier parishes) since 2004[29]
Harvey Locke Carey, lawyer and politician; lived off Wafer Road in Bossier Parish in the 1960s[30]
Robert Houston Curry (1842-1892), state representative for Bossier Parish from 1888 to 1892; wounded Confederate Army soldier[31]
Jesse C. Deen, late principal in the Rocky Mount community, served on the Bossier Parish Police Jury and then in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 to 1988. His older son, Larry Callaway Deen, is a former Bossier Parish sheriff.
E. S. Dortch, planter and politician and last surviving (1943) Bossier Parish veteran of the Confederate States Army[32]
Jack Favor, a rodeo star, was falsely imprisoned in 1967 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for the murders of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Richey.[33][34]
Ryan Gatti, state senator for District 36 since 2016; Bossier City lawyer[35]
Ray Germany, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball All-American in 1959 and 1960; resident of Haughton[36]
Booker T, American professional wrestler and promoter.[37]
Mike Johnson, Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; constitutional attorney in Benton[38]
J. A. W. Lowry (died 1899), district attorney and state senator[39]
Jerry Miculek, American professional speed and competition shooter known for his 20 world records; resides in Princeton
George Nattin, mayor of Bossier City, 1961-1973
William Washington Vance, state senator from 1886 to 1892[40]
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Bossier Parish, Louisiana
"Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
Stinson, Louise. "Bossier City History". www.bossiercity.org. City of Bossier City. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
Anonymous. "About Bossier Parish". www.bossierparishla.gov. Bossier Parish. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
Huffman, Booker T with Andrew William Wright (2012). Booker T: From Prison to Promise: Life Before the Squared Circle. Aurora, Ill: Medallion Press. ISBN978-1605424682.
Другой контент может иметь иную лицензию. Перед использованием материалов сайта WikiSort.org внимательно изучите правила лицензирования конкретных элементов наполнения сайта.
2019-2024 WikiSort.org - проект по пересортировке и дополнению контента Википедии