Plain Dealing, Louisiana

Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 893 in 2020.<ref name=":0" /> It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area.

History

Prior to 1839, the United States government forcibly removed the Caddo Nation of Native Americans—longtime local inhabitants who had first settled the area over 1,000 years before Europeans' 16th-century arrival in mainland North America—from the area of Northern Louisiana that included the parcel that would later become the town of Plain Dealing.<ref name="shreveporttimes1">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1839, George Oglethorpe Gilmer and his son, James Blair Gilmer, bought 5,000 acres of this land—then described as a "vast, unsettled wilderness"—from the United States government, calling a portion of this acreage "Plain Dealing" after the family's Virginia plantation.<ref name="shreveporttimes1"/><ref name="geocities.com">Template:Cite web</ref> The "Plain Dealing" name became official when the town was formally chartered on April 24, 1890.<ref name="shreveporttimes1"/>

On March 26, 1893, during an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. Two students were shot and killed immediately, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Geography

Plain Dealing is Template:Convert south of the Arkansas border and Template:Convert north of Shreveport.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert, or 0.26%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010">Template:Cite web</ref>

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Plain Dealing has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Plain Dealing was Template:Convert on August 10, 1936, while the coldest temperature recorded was Template:Convert on February 13, 1899.<ref name = NOWData /> The record high temperature is also the highest temperature ever recorded in Louisiana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

Plain Dealing racial composition as of 2020<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	440	49.27%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	414	46.58%
Other/Mixed	22	2.46%
Hispanic or Latino	15	1.68%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 893 people, 424 households, and 192 families residing in the town.<ref name=":0" />

Education

The community is in the Bossier Parish School District.<ref>Template:Cite web - Text list</ref> There is one school in the community, Plain Dealing High School, which covers grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12.<ref>Template:Cite web - See also profile at National Center for Education Statistics</ref> Its attendance boundary includes all of Plain Dealing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

White and black students had separate K-12 schools, under educational segregation in the United States. White students went to Plain Dealing High School, then K-12, while black students went to Carrie Martin High School, a K-12 school established in 1952 by its namesake. In 1969 the white and black schools were consolidated into a single school with two campuses, later separated into Plain Dealing Elementary School and Plain Dealing High School. The elementary school was renamed Carrie Martin Elementary School in 2003.<ref name=plaindealing2>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2017 the district announced that it will merge Martin Elementary into Plain Dealing High, and stop using the former elementary facility.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bossier Parish is in the areas of Bossier Parish Community College and Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College.<ref>Template:Cite web shows Bossier Parish in the service areas of BPCC and NLTCC.</ref>

Notable people

• William Benton Boggs (1854–1922), first mayor of Plain Dealing in 1890<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ryan Gatti (born 1974), state senator from Bossier City since 2016
• Booker T. Huffman Jr aka Booker T, American professional wrestler<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• A. P. Tugwell (1889–1976), the longest-serving Louisiana state treasurer
• Joseph David "Joe" Waggonner, Jr. (1918–2007), a former congressman
• W. E. "Willie" Waggonner (1905–1976), sheriff of Bossier Parish from 1948 until his death in office
• Greg Stumon (born 1963), retired defensive end Canadian Football League

Gallery

• Plain Dealing corporate limits sign
  Plain Dealing corporate limits sign
• Downtown Plain Dealing
  Downtown Plain Dealing
• Gazebo in downtown Plain Dealing
  Gazebo in downtown Plain Dealing