Area 1,502 km² Population 16,112 (2013) Unemployment rate 6.3% (Apr 2015) | Founded 1845 | |
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Website www.jacksonparishpolicejury.org/Default.aspx Rivers Big Creek, Dugdemona River, Bear Creek, Cypress Bayou | ||
Jackson Parish (French: Paroisse de Jackson) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,274. The parish seat is Jonesboro. The parish was formed in 1845 from parts of Claiborne, Ouachita, and Union Parishes.
Contents
- Map of Jackson Parish LA USA
- History
- Civil War
- Geography
- Major highways
- Adjacent parishes
- Demographics
- Politics
- Education
- National Guard
- Towns
- Villages
- Unincorporated community
- Notable people
- References
Map of Jackson Parish, LA, USA
East of Jonesboro is the Jimmie Davis State Park, which includes Caney Lake Reservoir.
History
Jackson Parish was founded in 1845 and named for President Andrew Jackson.
Civil War
During the American Civil War Confederate General Richard Taylor sent five companies into Jackson and Winn parishes to arrest conscripts who failed to report for duty and to halt jayhawker groups in the area. General Edmund Kirby-Smith, moreover, directed that "all men who shirked their military duty be hunted down and forced into camp. Those who tried to escape the conscript hunters would be shot. The terrain of Louisiana with its many canebrakes, swamps, and hills in which to hide, made such an order difficult to carry out," explains the historian John D. Winters in The Civil War in Louisiana (1963).
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 580 square miles (1,500 km2), of which 569 square miles (1,470 km2) is land and 11 square miles (28 km2) (1.9%) is water.
Major highways
Adjacent parishes
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,397 people, 6,086 households, and 4,302 families residing in the parish. The population density was 27 people per square mile (10/km²). There were 7,338 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 71.01% White, 27.87% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 6,086 households out of which 31.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% were married couples living together, 14.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.30% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the parish the population was spread out with 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 16.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.50 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $28,352, and the median income for a family was $36,317. Males had a median income of $31,977 versus $19,992 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $15,354. About 16.00% of families and 19.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.30% of those under age 18 and 15.80% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
Jackson Parish was historically part of the Solid South with Governor Al Smith receiving 100 percent of the vote in 1928 in his losing race against Herbert C. Hoover. It has trended more Republican since at least 1960, when Richard M. Nixon led parishwide with 43.9 percent against both John F. Kennedy and a rival slate of unpledged segregationist electors, which included future Governor David C. Treen and Leander Perez of Plaquemines Parish. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both carried the parish twice. In 1992, Clinton polled 3,370 votes (44.5 percent) to Republican George Herbert Walker Bush's 3,072 (40.6 percent). Another 882 ballots (11.7 percent) were held by Ross Perot of Texas, who ran as an Independent and thereafter founded his Reform Party.
In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, U.S. Senator John S. McCain of Arizona outpolled Barack H. Obama of Illinois by 30 percentage points. In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney carried Jackson Parish.with 5,132 votes (68.2 percent) to President Obama's 2,305 ballots (30.6 percent), a margin of nearly 38 percentage points.
Education
Public schools in Jackson Parish are operated by the Jackson Parish School Board.
National Guard
A Company 199TH FSB (Forward Support Battalion) of the 256TH IBCT resides in Jonesboro, Louisiana. This unit has deployed twice to Iraq in 2004-5 and 2010. Also deployed in 1990 for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.