Homer, Louisiana

History

Claiborne Parish was strongly Confederate during the Civil War. In 1863, a company of volunteers ineligible for conscription was organized in Homer to promote the war effort. Nevertheless, some Homer-area farmers hurried to Monroe during the war to trade their cotton for scarce items with the Union.

The former newspaper, the Homer Iliad, was published by Arkansas native William Jasper Blackburn during Reconstruction. Blackburn also served a year in the United States House of Representatives; as the Claiborne Parish administrative judge, a post which no longer exists; and as a member of the Louisiana State Senate.

Andrew R. Johnson (1856–1933), a native of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, was president of Homer State Bank and served on the Claiborne Parish School Board and then in the early 1910s as the mayor of Homer. The town already had a municipal home-rule charter. Johnson's administration worked to bring electric lights and water works to fruition. In 1916, Johnson was elected to the first of two terms, without opposition, to the state senate. Johnson considered a gubernatorial bid in 1924 but declined. Earlier, while residing in northern Natchitoches Parish, Johnson laid out and in 1901 named the village of Ashland. Johnson donated land for the former Ashland High School. Johnson is interred in Coushatta in Red River Parish.

The Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum operates across from the parish courthouse in the former Claiborne Hotel (completed 1890). The museum claims the oldest compressed bale of cotton in existence in the United States. This cotton display is believed to have been baled about 1930. Adjacent to the cotton exhibit is the "Black Gold", a replica of an oilfield roughneck—a general laborer worker who loading and unloads cargo from crane baskets and keeps the drilling equipment clean—employed in the early 1930s by the Sinclair Oil and Gas Company. The exhibit has a recording which explains how a farm family, growing mostly cotton and corn faced great economic travail in Mississippi but relocated to Claiborne Parish to take advantage of the oil and natural gas boom. "Oil changed our lives forever. We owe a lot to the men, mud, and mules that made it happen," concludes the recorded message. In 1921, oil was discovered in Homer; in 1921, another strike followed in Haynesville in northern Claiborne Parish. The boom continued through the 1930s and brought many customers to the then booming Hotel Claiborne, which had been established in 1890 and declared a state historic site in 1984.

The Homer of nostalgia

The former Purple Cow restaurant in Homer was a popular gathering spot, particularly for young people, for two decades c. 1962. It was operated by Elmon (1914-2009) and Edna Kirkpatrick Broughton (1915-2001). Elmon was also a driller in the oilfields and raised hay. The couple had five children, one of whom, Ronnie Broughton, is the state chairman of the Constitution Party in Louisiana and a member and former president of the Webster Parish School Board.

Author Marilyn Sewell, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Portland, Oregon, was reared in Homer. Reflecting on her childhood, she wrote in 2010:

"Our doors were always unlocked during the day. When hoboes (the wandering indigent) came by, we always gave them a big plate of food. Our dog never had a leash, and ate scraps from the table. We rode our bikes wherever we wanted, walked or hitched rides several miles to school and to the swimming pool, charged whatever we wanted to eat at the local grocery store on the town square. We knew the banker – he lived next door. Teenagers went to the "Teen Club," sponsored by Coca-Cola, and we drank nothing stronger than our sponsor’s beverage. After basketball games, we went to the Purple Cow, where we had a burger and curly fries for 36 cents. The most daring thing we did was to drive a couple of miles out into the country and climb the fire tower. Since nobody was drinking, nobody fell. (I should add that this bucolic picture applied only to whites, in a community that was absolutely segregated.)

I did not choose to return to Homer, Louisiana, to live. It got way too small for me, really soon. But I remember that lovely sense of feeling "in place," feeling safe and free in a community. How do we still our anxiety in these times we're in? Where is a haven? Where do we feel safe?"

Geography

Homer is located at 32°47′24″N 93°3′31″W (32.789863, -93.058633).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.6 square miles (12 km²), of which 4.6 square miles (12 km²) is land and 0.22% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,788 people, 1,431 households, and 977 families residing in the town. The population density was 826.8 people per square mile (319.3/km²). There were 1,709 housing units at an average density of 373.0 per square mile (144.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 37.80% White, 61.30% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.90% of the population.

There were 1,431 households out of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.9% were married couples living together, 23.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.22.

In the town, the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $23,646, and the median income for a family was $28,199. Males had a median income of $26,563 versus $20,777 for females. The per capita income for the town was $12,811. About 22.9% of families and 31.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.2% of those under age 18 and 17.6% of those age 65 or over.

Culture and economy

The Homer Chamber of Commerce is also located within the former Hotel Claiborne. At one time, part of the building housed the defunct West and Company department store, owned by H. O. West of Minden.

To the rear of the museum is the First Baptist Church of Homer, the roots of which date to 1845. Other churches in the area included First United Methodist and the theologically conservative Claiborne Southern Methodist Church.

One of the larger cemeteries in Homer is Arlington Cemetery, which maintains a meeting room known as the Arlington House. The cemetery is located off state Highway 146 a short distance from Homer. Noted Racist Louisiana politician William M. Rainach and his wife and daughter are interred there.

Notable people

Government and infrastructure

The United States Postal Service operates the Homer Post Office.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections operates the David Wade Correctional Center in an unincorporated section of Claiborne Parish near Homer.

Zip Code: 71040

Education

During the second half of the 19th century, there was a Homer College, whose attendees included the district and circuit court judge from Minden, Richard Cleveland Drew, and William G. Stewart, a Webster Parish farmer and school board president, who was the namesake of the former William G. Stewart Elementary School in Minden.

The Claiborne Parish School Board operates Homer Elementary School, Homer Junior High School, and Homer High School.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Homer has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.