Bossier Parish, Louisiana

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Bossier Parish (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:Langx Template:IPA) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 128,746.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

The parish seat is Benton.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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

Template:Stack Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, Template:ISBN, p. 38</ref>

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.<ref>Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County Template:Webarchive, p. 6, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017</ref> 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 Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (3.1%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref> Four miles east of Bossier City is Barksdale Air Force Base.

Major highways

Adjacent counties and parishes

National protected area

Red River National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Communities

Cities

Bossier City (largest municipality)
Shreveport (partial)

Towns

Benton (parish seat)
Haughton
Plain Dealing (smallest municipality)

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Template:US Census population

2020 census

Bossier 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)	71,101	80,991	78,982	72.93%	69.24%	61.35%
Black or African American alone (NH)	20,347	24,245	29,868	20.70%	20.73%	23.20%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	440	533	573	0.45%	0.46%	0.45%
Asian alone (NH)	1,216	1,873	2,341	1.24%	1.60%	1.82%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	79	154	113	0.08%	0.13%	0.09%
Other race alone (NH)	94	128	480	0.10%	0.13%	0.37%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	1,370	2,029	6,152	1.39%	1.73%	4.78%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	3,063	7,026	10,237	3.12%	6.01%	7.95%
Total	98,310	116,979	128,746	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

At the 2023 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 Template:Convert. There were 49,000 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert.

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Law, government and politics

Bossier Parish is governed by a 12-member elected body: the Bossier Parish Police Jury (which is equivalent to a county commission in other states). Members are elected from single-member districts.The current members of the police jury are:

District 1 - Bob Brotherton
District 2 - Glenn Benton
District 3 - Philip Rogers
District 4 - John Ed Jordan
District 5 - Julianna Parks
District 6 - Chris Marsiglia
District 7 - Jimmy Cochran
District 8 - Douglas E. Rimmer
District 9 - Charles Gray
District 10 - Jerome Darby
District 11 - Tom Salzer
District 12 - Paul M. "Mac" Plummer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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). The state was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party from the period after the turn of the century (when most Blacks were disenfranchised in Louisiana) to the mid-20th century.

Bossier Parish has since reliably voted for 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, has been the only non-Republican to carry Bossier Parish.<ref>David Leip's Presidential election Atlas (Louisiana electoral maps</ref><ref>Geographie Electorale</ref>

In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona won in Bossier Parish with 32,713 votes (71.4 percent) over Democrat Barack H. Obama of Illinois, who received 12,703 votes (27.8 percent).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, Mitt Romney polled 34,988 votes (72 percent) in Bossier Parish (2,275 more ballots than McCain drew in 2008). President Obama won 12,956 (26.6) of the votes in Bossier Parish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web - Text list</ref>

It is in the service 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 and former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Louisiana State Senate<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Roy A. Burrell, state representative from District 2 (Caddo and Bossier parishes) since 2004<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
E. S. Dortch, planter and politician and last surviving (1943) Bossier Parish veteran of the Confederate States Army<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
George Dement, former mayor of Bossier City and innkeeper and restaurateur
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Ryan Gatti, lawyer and former state senator for District 36<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Booker T, American professional wrestler and promoter.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; constitutional attorney in Benton<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Jerry Miculek, American professional speed and competition shooter known for his 20 world records; resides in Princeton
Jimmy Boyd, former Louisiana State Representative
Justin Wells, singer-songwriter
Joe Waggonner, former U.S. Representative
Willie Waggonner, former sheriff of Bossier Parish
Judi Ann Mason, television writer, producer, and playwright
Adam Bass, current state senator for Louisiana's 36th State Senate district.
Harmonica Fats, blues harmonica player
Campbell B. Hodges, former U.S. Army general and president of Louisiana State University
Ford E. Stinson, U.S. Army officer and former Louisiana State Representative
Vol Dooley, controversial former sheriff of Bossier Parish
William Clark Hughes, former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Billie Jean Horton, former country-music singer-songwriter and promoter who was married to Hank Williams and Johnny Horton
Greg Stumon, former professional football player in the Canadian Football League
Jared Leto, actor and singer
Shannon Leto, drummer of rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars
Riley Stewart, former professional baseball pitcher in the Negro Leagues
Henry Warren Ogden, former member of the United States House of Representatives and the Louisiana House of Representatives
Myron Baker, former professional football player in the NFL
Joe Delaney, former professional football player in the NFL and posthumous recipient of the Presidential Citizen's Medal
Jesse Winchester, American-Canadian musician and songwriter
Bobby Smith, former professional football defensive back in the NFL
Brad Pye, Jr., sports journalist, broadcaster, and activist
Willa Mae Sudduth, a founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women
Dodie Horton, current Louisiana State Representative
Dak Prescott, current professional football quarterback in the NFL
Keith Lehr, poker player and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner
John A. Franks, businessman and racehorse owner and breeder
V. V. Whittington, banker and former Louisiana State Senator
Frank Bradley, former professional baseball pitcher in the Negro Leagues
Robert C. Smith, former political scientist and professor at San Francisco State University
David Houston, country music singer
Jack Clayton, former collegiate football, baseball, and basketball coach

References

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External links

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