Editing Colfax, Louisiana

{{Short description|Town in Louisiana, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Colfax, Louisiana
| official_name           = Town of Colfax
| settlement_type         = [[Town]]
| image_skyline           = Colfax, LA, City Hall IMG_2383.JPG
| imagesize               = 250px
| image_caption           = Colfax City Hall
| image_map               = File:Grant Parish Louisiana Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Colfax Highlighted.svg
| mapsize                 = 
| map_caption             = Location of Colfax in Grant Parish, Louisiana.
| pushpin_map             = Louisiana#USA
| pushpin_label_position  = left
| pushpin_label           = Colfax
<!-- Location -->
| subdivision_type        = Country
| subdivision_name        = United States
| subdivision_type1       = State
| subdivision_name1       = Louisiana
| subdivision_type2       = Parish
| subdivision_name2       = Grant Parish
<!-- Government -->
| established_title       = Founded
| established_date        = 1869
| founder                 = 
| named_for               = 
| government_footnotes    = 
| government_type         = Mayor
| governing_body          = 
| leader_party            = 
<!-- Area ---->
| unit_pref               = Imperial
| area_footnotes          = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_22.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=March 20, 2022}}</ref>
| area_total_km2          = 3.88
| area_total_sq_mi        = 1.50
| area_land_km2           = 3.86
| area_land_sq_mi         = 1.49
| area_water_km2          = 0.02
| area_water_sq_mi        = 0.01
<!-- Population ---->
| population_footnotes    = 
| population_total        = 1428
| population_as_of        = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_rank         = [[Grant Parish, Louisiana#Communities|GR]]: 1st
| population_density_km2  = 369.73
| population_density_sq_mi = 957.75
| population_demonym      = 
<!-- General information -->
| timezone                = [[North American Central Time Zone|CST]]
| utc_offset              = -6
| timezone_DST            = [[North American Central Time Zone|CDT]]
| utc_offset_DST          = -5
| elevation_footnotes     = <ref name=gnis/>
| elevation_ft            = 92
| coordinates             = {{coord|31|31|15|N|92|42|01|W|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes   = <ref name=gnis/>
<!-- Area/postal codes and others -->
| postal_code_type        = ZIP code
| postal_code             = 71417
| area_code_type          = Area code
| area_code               = [[Area code 318|318]]
| blank_name              = [[Federal Information Processing Standards|FIPS code]]
| blank_info              = 22-16375
| blank1_name             = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
| blank1_info             = 2406294<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2406294}}</ref>
| website                 = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| footnotes               = 
}}
[[Image:Colfax Banking Co., Colfax, LA IMG 2410.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Colfax Banking Company]]
[[Image:LA Pecan Festival Country Store, Colfax, LA IMG 2377.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The Louisiana Pecan Festival Country Store is activated during the annual festival the first weekend of November.]]
[[Image:Colfax, LA, Elementary School IMG 2402.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Colfax Elementary School; pupils in Colfax attend Grant High School in nearby [[Dry Prong, Louisiana|Dry Prong]].]]
[[Image:First United Methodist Church, Colfax, LA IMG 2392.JPG|200px|right|thumb|First [[United Methodist]] Church in Colfax]]

'''Colfax''' is a town in, and the [[parish seat]] of, [[Grant Parish, Louisiana|Grant Parish]], [[Louisiana]], United States,<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|access-date=June 7, 2011|title=Find a County|publisher=National Association of Counties}}</ref> founded in 1869. Colfax is part of the [[Alexandria, Louisiana metropolitan area]]. The largely African American population of Colfax counted 1,558 at the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]].<ref name="Census 2010">{{Cite web| url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US2216375| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Colfax city, Louisiana| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| work=American Factfinder| access-date=December 14, 2016}}{{dead link|bot=medic|date=April 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==History==

Colfax is most known for a [[Reconstruction Era]] massacre known as the [[Colfax massacre]] which took place [[Easter]], April 13, 1873, to quell black voting. One hundred-fifty [[African Americans]] and three whites were killed in one of the most egregious acts of terrorism during Reconstruction.<ref>"Colfax Riot", historical marker, [[Grant Parish, Louisiana|Grant Parish]] Courthouse, Colfax, Louisiana</ref> A white [[militia]] was led against [[freedmen]] by [[Christopher Columbus Nash]], who claimed to have been elected sheriff on a Fusionist/[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] slate. Freedmen were defending [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] officials at the county courthouse and had gathered there as tensions rose in a post-election dispute. A contemporary report by the U.S. military documented the three white fatalities and 105 black victims by name, with 15-20 unidentified blacks found in the [[Red River of the South|Red River]].<ref>[http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/state/history/military/uncat/colfaxr.txt "Military Report on Colfax Riot, 1875", from the ''Congressional Record''], accessed April 6, 2008</ref><ref>Lane, Charles, ''The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction'', 2008</ref> The disproportionate number of deaths between whites and blacks, and documented accounts that at least 50 black prisoners were executed while unarmed and under control of the white militia, 20th-century historians redefined the "riot" as a "massacre". The event is significant because blacks, who comprised the majority in the parish, organized to defend themselves and their political rights and were mass murdered.

The riot arose from the disputed [[governor of Louisiana|gubernatorial]] election of 1872, finally determined in the favor of the Republican [[William Pitt Kellogg]] by the federal government. Both the Fusion-Democrats and the Republicans held inaugurations and certified their own slates of local officers. Following the events of 1873, in 1874 Nash gathered many of the same men to establish the [[White League]], a white supremacist [[paramilitary]] organization that operated on behalf of Democrats and eventually had chapters in many areas of Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.lahistory.org/site31.php| title=Nash, Christopher Columbus| work=A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography| publisher=Louisiana Historical Association| access-date=December 16, 2010| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512114056/http://www.lahistory.org/site31.php| archive-date=May 12, 2015}}</ref> It worked to intimidate and attack black voters, to run Republicans out of office, and to suppress black voting.

On April 13, 1921, the white citizens of Colfax unveiled a {{convert|12|ft|adj=on}} marble [[obelisk]] that read, "In Loving Remembrance, Erected to the Memory of the Heroes, Stephen Decatur Parish, James West Hadnot, Sidney Harris. Who fell in the Colfax Riot, fighting for White Supremacy, April 13, 1873."<ref>Keith, LeeAnna. The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2009.</ref>

In 1950 the state commerce department erected a historical marker identifying the site of the "Colfax Riot"; it says that the militia's victory "marked the end of [[carpetbagger|carpetbag]] misrule in the South." Because of similar [[insurgent]] paramilitary violence in other areas of the state, especially during campaigns and elections, federal troops remained in Louisiana until 1877, when they were removed on orders of U.S. President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]].<ref>Rodriguez, J. P. (Ed.). (2007). Slavery in the United States [2 volumes]: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.</ref>

In 2007, the Red River Heritage Association was founded to collect and interpret the history of Reconstruction, especially in the Red River area and Louisiana. The association is raising funds to restore a bank in Colfax near the former courthouse site to use as a museum, archives and interpretive center.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

==Geography==
Colfax is located in western Grant Parish on the northeast side of the [[Red River of the South|Red River]]. [[Louisiana Highway 8]] passes through the center of town, leading east {{convert|2|mi|0}} to [[U.S. Route 71]] and south {{convert|12|mi}} to [[Boyce, Louisiana|Boyce]]. [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] is {{convert|26|mi}} to the southeast.

According to the [[United States Census 2010]], Colfax has a total area of {{convert|3.9|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|0.02|sqkm|order=flip|2}}, or 0.54%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1870= 40
|1890= 161
|1900= 190
|1910= 1049
|1920= 1449
|1930= 1141
|1940= 1354
|1950= 1651
|1960= 1934
|1970= 1892
|1980= 1680
|1990= 1696
|2000= 1659
|2010= 1558
|2020= 1428
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Colfax racial composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US2216375&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 29, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
| 532
| 37.25%
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
| 834
| 58.4%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
| 1
| 0.07%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
| 4
| 0.28%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
| 41
| 2.87%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
| 16
| 1.12%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 1,428 people, 686 households, and 470 families residing in the town.

===2000 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=January 31, 2008 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 1,659 people, 600 households, and 408 families residing in the town. The population density was {{convert|1,111.3|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 709 housing units at an average density of {{convert|474.9|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 67.81% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 30.98% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.06% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.06% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.06% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 1.02% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 0.54% of the population.

There were 600 households, out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.3% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 32.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.1% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 77.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.1 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $17,500, and the median income for a family was $20,000. Males had a median income of $25,313 versus $14,310 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $10,155. About 36.3% of families and 41.0% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 59.0% of those under age 18 and 25.3% of those age 65 or over.

==Economy==
A facility burning explosives and munitions waste first opened in Colfax in 1985, and was licensed in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2016/03/22/rep-brown-rapides-not-being-good-neighbor-grant/82123016/|title=Rep. Brown: Rapides not being 'good neighbor' to Grant|author=Richard P. Sharkey|date=March 22, 2016|publisher=The Alexandria Town Talk|access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> [[Clean Harbors]] acquired it in 2002 from Safety-Kleen. The plant disposes of explosives and munitions waste by open burns from ammunition plants or defense contractors at "at least 42 locations across 22 states". In July 2017 it has been described as "the only commercial facility in the nation" allowed to do so without environmental emissions controls.<ref name=pro>Abrahm Lustgarden [https://www.propublica.org/article/military-pollution-toxic-burns-colfax-louisiana Kaboom Town. The U.S. military burns millions of pounds of munitions in a tiny, African-American corner of Louisiana.] ProPublica, July 21, 201</ref> It has been burning propellant waste from the [[Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant]], 95 miles north.<ref name=pro/><ref>{{cite news|author=Jeff Matthews|date=November 3, 2013|title=Fun ... in a nutshell: La. Pecan Festival in Colfax gets great weather, big crowd|newspaper=[[The Town Talk (Alexandria)|Alexandria Daily Town Talk]]|url=http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20131103/NEWS01/311030027/Fun-nutshell-La-Pecan-Festival-Colfax-gets-great-weather-big-crowd|access-date=November 3, 2013|archive-date=November 4, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131104095513/http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20131103/NEWS01/311030027/Fun-nutshell-La-Pecan-Festival-Colfax-gets-great-weather-big-crowd|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Political representation==
[[Terry Brown (Louisiana politician)|Terry Ralph Brown]], has been the District 22 state representative from Colfax; he is one of only two [[Independent (politics)|Independents]] in the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]]. His family moved to Colfax in 1817.<ref name=pro/>
In 2016, Brown sponsored a bill to ban open burning of hazardous waste in Louisiana.<ref name=pro/>

==Education==
Public schools in Grant Parish are operated by the [[Grant Parish School Board]]. As the former [[Colfax High School (Colfaz, Louisiana)|Colfax High School]] was consolidated into [[Grant High School (Louisiana)|Grant High School]] in [[Dry Prong, Louisiana|Dry Prong]], the only remaining school in the town is Colfax Elementary School.

==Notable person==
* [[Allison Kolb]], Louisiana state [[auditor]] from 1952 to 1956, was born in Colfax.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Keith |first=LeeAnna |title=The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, & The Death of Reconstruction |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780195310269 |url=https://archive.org/details/colfaxmassacreun00keit }}
*{{cite book |last=Lane |first=Charles |title=The Day Freedom Died, The Colfax Massacre, The Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction|location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt and Company|year=2008 |isbn=9780805089226 }}
*{{cite book |last=Tademy |first=Lalita |title=Red River: A Novel |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=0446578983 |url=https://archive.org/details/redriver00tade }}

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage|Colfax (Louisiana)|Colfax, Louisiana}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090420201337/http://www.redriverha.org/ Red River Heritage Association]

{{Grant Parish, Louisiana}}
{{Louisiana parish seats}}
{{Louisiana}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Colfax, Louisiana|*]]
[[Category:Towns in Grant Parish, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Towns in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Parish seats in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Towns in Alexandria metropolitan area, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1869]]
[[Category:1869 establishments in Louisiana]]