St. Helena Parish, Louisiana

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county St. Helena Parish (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 10,920.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its seat is Greensburg.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The parish was created in 1810.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> St. Helena Parish is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

History

The parish is one of the eight Florida Parishes, a region which was once part of colonial West Florida. The area was annexed to the Territory of Orleans in 1810, after the short-lived Republic of West Florida capitulated to the United States.

In 1832, the southern section of the parish was taken to form Livingston Parish and the St. Helena parish seat was redesignated as Greensburg, where it remains today. St. Helena lost another portion of land in 1866, which was subsequently added to land from other parishes to form Tangipahoa Parish.

From 1964 to 1984, St. Helena Parish was represented in the Louisiana State Senate by the Democrat businessman W. E. "Bill" Dykes. In 1983, as a casualty of redistricting, Dykes bowed out of contention in a race which would have pitted him against long-term Senate President Sixty Rayburn of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Rayburn himself lost his senate seat in 1995.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In recent years, St. Helena experienced a series of scandals involving parish officials. In 1997, Sheriff Eugene Holland (October 13, 1954 – December 14, 2010)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was found guilty of misuse of government funds and property and using prison inmates for personal labor; he spent time in prison as a result.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His replacement, Chaney L. Phillips (born Template:Circa), served for only a year as sheriff before he was convicted of fraud and money laundering that he had committed while serving as the parish assessor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was given an eight-year prison sentence on conviction in 1998 of having placed a political supporter on his assessor office staff; the individual performed no duties. Phillips was assigned to the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was released on May 23, 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ronald "Gun" Ficklin, former mayor of Greensburg, took over the sheriff's office from Phillips in 1998, but on February 5, 2007, Ficklin himself pleaded guilty on multiple counts involving his role in operating "chop shops" — reselling stolen automobiles and parts — using state prisoners to staff these activities and as a pit crew for his race car.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> Ficklin died of cancer while in prison (October 21, 2011).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2007, Nat Williams was elected as Ficklin's replacement, the first African American to hold the office in that parish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (0.3%) is water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is located in the northern tier of the Florida Parishes, and within the Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

Major highways

• File:Louisiana 10 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 10
• File:Louisiana 16 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 16
• File:Louisiana 37 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 37
• File:Louisiana 38 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 38
• File:Louisiana 43 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 43
• File:Louisiana 441 (2008).svg Louisiana Highway 441

Adjacent parishes and counties

• Amite County, Mississippi – north
• Tangipahoa Parish – east
• Livingston Parish – south
• East Baton Rouge Parish – southwest
• East Feliciana Parish – west

Communities

Town

• Greensburg (parish seat and largest municipality)

Village

• Montpelier

Unincorporated communities

• Chipola
• Coleman Town
• Darlington
• Easleyville
• Grangeville
• Hillsdale
• Kedron
• Liverpool
• Pine Grove

Demographics

St. Helena Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition
Template:Nobold

Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	% 2000	% 2010	Template:Partial
White alone (NH)	4,859	4,999	4,494	46.17%	44.62%	41.15%
Black or African American alone (NH)	5,480	5,964	5,846	52.07%	53.24%	53.53%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	10	34	38	0.10%	0.30%	0.35%
Asian alone (NH)	10	9	19	0.10%	0.08%	0.17%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)	1	0	4	0.01%	0.00%	0.04%
Other race alone (NH)	3	21	23	0.03%	0.19%	0.21%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	58	77	280	0.55%	0.69%	2.56%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	104	99	216	0.99%	0.88%	1.98%
Total	10,525	11,203	10,920	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

Out of Louisiana's 64 parishes, it is one of six that have an African-American Majority (2020).

At the 2010 United States census, there were 11,203 people living in the parish, and at the 2000 U.S. census, there were 10,525 people. The 2019 American Community Survey estimated 10,297 people lived in the parish. The 2020 census tabulated a total of 10,920 residents. In 2019, there were 3,857 households, down from 3,873 at the 2000 census.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

The racial and ethnic makeup at the 2019 census-estimates was 52.5% Black and African American, 45.7% non-Hispanic white, 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% some other race, and 0.2% multiracial; Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 1.8% of the total population. In 2010, the racial and ethnic makeup was 53.3% Black and African American, 44.9% White American, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% of some other race and 0.8% of two or more races; 0.9% were Hispanic and Latin American of any race.

Of the 3,857 households at the 2019 census-estimates, 78.7% were aged 18 and older, 5.4% aged 5 and under, and 18.9% aged 65 and older.<ref name=":0" /> The median age was 39.4, up from 35 at the 2000 census.

The parish had an employment rate of 45.9%, and the population was spread throughout 5,330 housing units. An estimated 78.9% of the population owned their housing units. The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $100,100, and the median gross rent was $656. The median income for a household in the parish was $43,886; males had a median income of $52,398 versus $31,003 for females. An estimated 24.3% of the parish population lived at or below the poverty line in 2019.

Education

The Elementary and High School in St. Helena Parish are part of the St. Helena Parish School System. The Middle School in St. Helena Parish is part of the Recovery School District of Louisiana.Template:Citation needed It is in the service area of Baton Rouge Community College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Brushy Creek Crater

St. Helena Parish contains the only identified meteorite impact crater in the state of Louisiana. This suspected impact crater is a roughly circular depression about 1.2 miles/2 km in diameter. Shocked quartz and intensely fractured quartz have been recovered from fractured and possibly altered sediments comprising its rim. Its age is estimated to be between 11 and 30 ka.<ref name="Heinrich2003a"/> It lies about 5.8 miles/9.3 kilometers southwest of Greensburg, in the southwest corner of the parish. Louisiana Highway 37 cuts through the northern edge of this feature.<ref name="Heinrich2003a">Heinrich, P.V. (2003) Possible Meteorite Impact Crater in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. Search and Discovery Article. no. 50006. American Association of Petroleum Geologist, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Retrieved March 27, 2011.</ref><ref name="Heinrich2003c">Heinrich, P.V. (2003) Origin of a Circular Depression and Associated Fractured and Shocked Quartz, St. Helena Parish, LA. Transactions of the Gulf Association of Geological Societies. vol. 53, pp. 313-322.</ref><ref>LGS Researcher Featured in Meteor Crater News Story. Template:Webarchive Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge. Retrieved March 27, 2011.</ref>

Politics

Owing in part to its high African American population, St. Helena Parish leans Democratic. It did so in its early history and has also done so since Nixon's 1972 landslide. In 2024 Donald Trump lost the Parish by only 44 votes, the closest a Republican has come to carrying St. Helena since the 1972 election.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
• Robby Carter
• Doris Lindsey Holland Rhodes

External links

• St Helena Parish Police Jury
• Explore the History and Culture of Southeastern Louisiana at National Park Service