Editing Marksville, Louisiana

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                     = Marksville, Louisiana
| official_name            = City of Marksville
| settlement_type          = [[City]]
| image_skyline            = 
| image_caption            = 
| motto                    = Where Everybody is Somebody<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityofmarksville.com/home.html|title=Welcome|website=City of Marksville|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref>
| image_map                = File:Avoyelles Parish Louisiana Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Marksville Highlighted.svg
| map_caption              = Location of Marksville in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana.
| pushpin_map              = Louisiana
<!-- Location -->
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = United States
| subdivision_type1        = State
| subdivision_name1        = Louisiana
| subdivision_type2        = Parish
| subdivision_name2        = [[Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana|Avoyelles]]
<!-- Government -->
| established_title        = Founded
| established_date         = 1794
| founder                  = 
| named_for                = 
| government_footnotes     = 
| government_type          = 
| governing_body           = 
| leader_party             = 
| leader_title             = [[Mayor]]
| leader_name              = 
<!-- 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           = 12.50
| area_total_sq_mi         = 4.83
| area_land_km2            = 12.47
| area_land_sq_mi          = 4.81
| area_water_km2           = 0.03
| area_water_sq_mi         = 0.01
<!-- Population -->
| population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_total         = 5065
| population_footnotes     = 
| population_density_km2   = 406.28
| population_density_sq_mi = 1052.36
<!-- General information -->
| timezone1                = [[North American Central Time Zone|CST]]
| utc_offset1              = -6
| timezone1_DST            = [[North American Central Time Zone|CDT]]
| utc_offset1_DST          = -5
| elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
| elevation_ft             = 82
| coordinates              = {{coord|31|07|46|N|92|03|51|W|display=inline,title}}
<!-- Area/postal codes and others -->
| postal_code_type         = ZIP code
| postal_code              = 71351
| area_code_type           = Area code
| area_code                = [[Area code 318|318]]
| blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standards|FIPS code]]
| blank_info               = 22-48750
| blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
| blank1_info              = 2405027<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2405027}}</ref>
| website                  = {{URL|https://www.cityofmarksville.com/}}
}}

'''Marksville''' is a small city in and the [[parish seat]] of [[Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana|Avoyelles Parish]], [[Louisiana]], United States. The population was 5,702 at the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]], an increase of 165 over the 2000 tabulation of 5,537.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/2248750.html|title=Marksville (city), Louisiana|publisher=quickfacts.census.gov|access-date=November 26, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204032314/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/2248750.html|archive-date=December 4, 2012}}</ref>

Louisiana's first land-based [[casino]], Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. It is operated by the federally recognized [[Tunica-Biloxi]] Indian Tribe, which has a reservation in the parish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paragoncasinoresort.com/tunica-biloxi-tribe|title=Tunica-Biloxi Tribe|website=Paragon Casino Resort|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Marksville District.jpg|thumb|[[Marksville Commercial Historic District]]]]
The land where Marksville was founded on was once a meeting place, leading to the present day [[Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Mounds of Northeast Louisiana - A Driving Trail |url=https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/archaeology/moundsguide/Marksville.html |website=www.crt.state.la.us |access-date=19 August 2022}}</ref>

Marksville is named after Marc Eliche (Marco Litche or Marco de Élitxe, as recorded by the Spanish), a [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] trader believed to be from [[Venice]], who established a [[trading post]] after his wagon broke down in this area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/louisiana/marksville |title=Marksville, Louisiana - City Information, Fast Facts, Schools, Colleges, and More |publisher=Citytowninfo.com |access-date=2015-11-10}}</ref><ref name="Leeper2012">{{cite book|last=D’Artois Leeper|first=Clare|title=Louisiana Place Names: Popular, Unusual, and Forgotten Stories of Towns, Cities, Plantations, Bayous, and Even Some Cemeteries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgL-Yi7GIEQC|access-date=8 November 2018|date=19 October 2012|publisher=LSU Press|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana|isbn=978-0-8071-4738-2|pages=159–160}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewsinamerica.com/settlers/Frame-4-mapnamespage4.html?refresh=1238789171854 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322030110/http://www.jewsinamerica.com/settlers/Frame-4-mapnamespage4.html?refresh=1238789171854 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 22, 2012 |title=Jews in America |publisher=Jews in America |access-date=2015-11-10}}</ref> His Italian name was recorded by a Spanish priest as ''Marco Litche;'' French priests, who were with colonists, recorded his name as ''Marc Eliche'' or ''Mark Eliché''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://marksvillechamber.org/about/|title=About Marksville|website=Marksville Chamber of Commerce|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref> after his trading post was established about 1794. Marksville was noted on Louisiana maps as early as 1809, after the United States acquired the territory in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803.<ref name=":0" /> Eliche later donated the land that became the Courthouse Square in the center of Marksville.

Marksville's population has numerous families of [[Cajun]] ancestry, in addition to African Americans, European Americans, and persons of mixed European-African ancestry. Many of the families had ancestors here since the city was incorporated.

Marksville became the trading center of a rural area developed as cotton [[plantations in the American South|plantations]]. After the United States outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, enslavers purchased [[African-American]] [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] through the domestic [[History of slavery|slave trade]]; a total of more than one million were transported to the [[Deep South]] from the [[Upper South]] in the first half of the 19th century. Enslavers typically bought slaves from markets in [[New Orleans]], where they had been taken via the Mississippi River or by the coastal slave trade at sea. [[Solomon Northup]], a [[free Negro|free black]] from [[Saratoga Springs, New York]], was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana. After being held for nearly 12 years on plantations in Avoyelles Parish, he was freed in 1853 with the help of Marksville and New York officials. Northup's memoir, which he published after returning to New York, was the basis of the 2013 movie ''[[12 Years A Slave (film)|12 Years A Slave]]'', of the same name.

===2015 shooting of Jeremy Mardis===
{{Main|Shooting of Jeremy Mardis}}
On March 31, 2017, Judge William Bennett of the 12th [[United States federal judicial district|Judicial District]] Court sentenced Stafford to forty years' imprisonment for the [[manslaughter]] of Jeremy Mardis. He was given a concurrent fifteen years for the attempted manslaughter of Christopher Few. Judge Bennett denied Stafford's defense request for a new trial. Stafford told the court that he did not know Jeremy was strapped in the front seat of the father's vehicle when he fired the fatal shots.<ref name=mgregory>{{cite news|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/2017/03/31/stafford-gets-40-years-boys-fatal-shooting/99867726/|author=Melissa Gregory|title=Stafford gets 40 years in boy's fatal shooting|newspaper=The Monroe News-Star|access-date=April 1, 2017}}</ref> Meanwhile, Greenhouse will be tried beginning June 12 on second-degree and attempted second-degree murder counts.<ref name=mgregory/>

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{Convert|4.1|sqmi}}, of which {{Convert|4.1|sqmi}} is land and 0.24% is water.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1870= 437
|1880= 553
|1890= 540
|1900= 837
|1910= 1076
|1920= 1185
|1930= 1527
|1940= 1811
|1950= 3635
|1960= 4257
|1970= 4518
|1980= 5113
|1990= 5526
|2000= 5537
|2010= 5702
|2020= 5065
|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>
}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Marksville racial composition as of 2020<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US2248750&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=2021-12-29|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
| 2,332
| 46.04%
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
| 2,208
| 43.59%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
| 78
| 1.54%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
| 14
| 0.28%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
| 352
| 6.95%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
| 81
| 1.6%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 5,065 people, 2,145 households, and 1,150 families residing in the city.

==Education==
All primary public schools are run by the [[Avoyelles Parish School Board]], which operates two schools within the city of Marksville.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.avoyellespsb.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=343748&type=d&pREC_ID=750822|title=Our Schools – Schools|website=Avoyelles Parish School Board|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref> In January 2018, 5 children from Marksville died in a car accident while traveling through [[Gainesville, Florida]].<ref name="Santana_2018">{{cite news |last1=Santana |first1=Rebecca |title=Louisiana town reels from loss of 5 children in fiery crash |url=https://apnews.com/ed46cf74e3d94b1e9d2aecf0c20d645c |access-date=7 January 2019 |work=AP |date=January 6, 2018}}</ref>

===Elementary===
* Marksville Elementary<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mes.avoyellespsb.edlioschool.com|title=Marksville Elementary|website=mes.avoyellespsb.edlioschool.com|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref>

===High school===
* [[Marksville High School]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mhs.avoyellespsb.edlioschool.com|title=Marksville High School|website=mhs.avoyellespsb.edlioschool.com|access-date=2016-06-23}}</ref>

== Media ==

=== Newspaper ===

* [[Avoyelles Journal]]

=== Radio ===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Frequency !! Callsign !! Format !! Owner
|-
| 92.1 || [[KLIL]] || Classic hit || Cajun Broadcasting
|-
| 95.9 || [[KZLG]] || Adult contemporary || Cajun Broadcasting
|-
| 97.7 || [[KAPB-FM]] || Classic country || Bontemps Media Services
|}

==Notable people==
*[[Allen Barbre]], a football player with the [[Denver Broncos]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/015928.asp|title=Indianz.com-News-Tunica Biloxi man on Green Bay Packers|accessdate=2010-02-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705193615/http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/015928.asp|archive-date=2011-07-05}}</ref>
*[[Earl Barbry]], an American politician and Native American leader
*[[D'Anthony Batiste]] (born 1982), Former football player for various teams
*[[Aaron Broussard]], Jefferson Parish politician 
*[[Chester Coco]] (1915–2001), lawyer and Louisiana state senator<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |date=October 2, 2001 |title=Coco, ex-senator, dead at 86 |pages=4 |work=The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-town-talk-obituary-for-chester-j-co/131181265/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
*[[Edwin Edwards]], four-term [[Governor of Louisiana]]
*[[Elaine S. Edwards|Elaine Schwartzenburg Edwards]], [[United States Senate|US senator]] in 1972
*[[H. Claude Hudson]], civil rights activist and founder of [[Broadway Federal Bank]]
*[[Jeannette Knoll]], associate justice of the [[Louisiana Supreme Court]] since 1997
*[[Chad Lavalais]], former [[Louisiana State University|LSU]] and [[NFL]] football player
*[[Tommy Neck]], LSU and NFL football player from the 1960s
*[[Ed Oliver (American football)|Ed Oliver]], [[NFL]] football player
*[[John H. Overton]] (1875–1948), U.S. senator, native of Marksville
*[[Horace Pierite]], former chief of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe. 
*[[Gaston Porterie]], former Attorney General of the State of Louisiana
*[[Charles Addison Riddle III]], District Attorney and former State Representative
*[[Little Walter]] Jacobs, [[blues]] musician, 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
* Chief [[Sesostrie Youchigant]], former chief of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe.

==National Guard==
1020th Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the [[225th Engineer Brigade]] is located in Marksville.

==Small communities in the area==
*Brouillette
*[[Fifth Ward, Louisiana|Fifth Ward]]
*Moncla
*Spring Bayou
*[[Tunica-Biloxi|Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
<!-- {{Louisiana parish seats}}-->
{{Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana}}
{{Louisiana parish seats}}
{{Louisiana}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Marksville, Louisiana|*]]
[[Category:Cities in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Cities in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Colonial Louisiana]]
[[Category:Parish seats in Louisiana]]
[[Category:1794 establishments in the Spanish Empire]]
[[Category:Tunica-Biloxi]]