Winn Parish, Louisiana

Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,755.[1] Its seat is Winnfield.[2] The parish was founded in 1852.[3] It is last in alphabetical order of Louisiana's sixty-four parishes. Winn is separated from Natchitoches Parish along U.S. Highway 71 by Saline Bayou, the first blackwater protected waterway in the American South.

Winn Parish, Louisiana
Parish
Parish of Winn
Winn Parish Courthouse in Winnfield
Winn Parish Courthouse in Winnfield
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location within the US
Louisiana's location within the US
Country United States
State Louisiana
RegionNorth Louisiana
FoundedFebruary 24, 1852
Named forWalter Winn or Winfield Scott
Parish seat (and largest city)Winnfield
Area
 • Total2,480 km2 (957 sq mi)
 • Land2,500 km2 (950 sq mi)
 • Water17 km2 (6.7 sq mi)
 • percentage2 km2 (0.7 sq mi)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total13,755
 • Density5.5/km2 (14/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code318
Congressional district5th

History
Saline Bayou
Backwater flooding in Winn Parish led temporarily in June 2015 to a detour around U.S. Highway 71 at St. Maurice, Louisiana.

Winn Parish was established in 1852 from lands which had belonged to the parishes of Catahoula, Natchitoches, and Rapides.[3]

During the Civil War, David Pierson, a young attorney, was elected to represent the parish at the Secession Convention called in January 1861 in Baton Rouge by Governor Thomas Overton Moore. Pierson voted against secession and refused, along with several others, to change his "no" vote at the end of the process when asked to do so to make the final tally unanimous.

That these conscripts refused to fight for the Confederacy is understandable considering that Union support was higher in north Louisiana, and especially high in Winn Parish.[4] The Confederate States Army defeated a Union detachment sent to destroy a salt works in the parish. Winn Parish contributed to the $80,000 raised to build fortifications on the nearby Red River.[5]

After the war, bandits roamed the Natchez Trace or Harrisonburg Road that ran through the lower part of the parish. Among the worst were the West and Kimbrell clan. For seven years they preyed especially on travelers and migrants passing through the area.[6]

In April 1873, white Democrats forming a militia from Winn Parish joined with ex-Confederate veterans from Rapides and Grant parishes against Republican blacks in the Colfax massacre in neighboring Grant Parish.[7][8] They attacked freedmen defending the parish courthouse and two Republican officeholders in the aftermath to the disputed gubernatorial election of 1872. Among the 80–150 blacks killed were at least 50 who had surrendered; a total of three white men were killed in the confrontation.[9][10][11][12]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 957 square miles (2,480 km2), of which 950 square miles (2,500 km2) is land and 6.7 square miles (17 km2) (0.7%) is water.[13]

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

National protected area

Communities

City
  • Winnfield (parish seat and largest municipality)

Town

Villages

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18606,876—
18704,954−28.0%
18805,84618.0%
18907,08221.1%
19009,64836.2%
191018,35790.3%
192016,119−12.2%
193014,766−8.4%
194016,92314.6%
195016,119−4.8%
196016,034−0.5%
197016,3692.1%
198017,2535.4%
199016,269−5.7%
200016,8943.8%
201015,313−9.4%
202013,755−10.2%
U.S. Decennial Census[15]
1790–1960[16] 1900–1990[17]
1990–2000[18] 2010[19]
Winn Parish racial composition as of 2020[20]
Race Number Percentage
White (non-Hispanic) 8,498 61.78%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 3,518 25.58%
Native American 77 0.56%
Asian 172 1.25%
Pacific Islander 16 0.12%
Other/Mixed 451 3.28%
Hispanic or Latino 1,023 7.44%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 13,755 people, 5,483 households, and 3,661 families residing in the parish.

Education

Winn Parish School Board operates local public schools in all of the county.[21]

Corrections

Winn Correctional Center is in an unincorporated section of Winn Parish. Corrections Corporation of America, under contract with Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, once operated the prison.[22]

National Guard

"A" Company of the Louisiana National Guard 199th Forward Support Battalion was previously located in Winnfield, Louisiana. The unit deployed twice to Iraq as part of the 256TH IBCT in 2004-5 and 2010. The unit's Winnfield Armory was closed.

Politics
United States presidential election results for Winn Parish, Louisiana[23]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No. %No. %No. %
2020 4,619 74.20% 1,543 24.79% 63 1.01%
2016 4,608 72.32% 1,644 25.80% 120 1.88%
2012 4,541 69.50% 1,919 29.37% 74 1.13%
2008 4,632 68.40% 2,047 30.23% 93 1.37%
2004 4,366 67.10% 2,056 31.60% 85 1.31%
2000 4,028 63.32% 2,167 34.07% 166 2.61%
1996 2,803 37.56% 3,779 50.64% 881 11.80%
1992 2,932 38.84% 3,537 46.85% 1,080 14.31%
1988 4,165 59.02% 2,699 38.25% 193 2.73%
1984 4,934 63.85% 2,633 34.08% 160 2.07%
1980 3,944 52.26% 3,411 45.20% 192 2.54%
1976 3,209 46.58% 3,543 51.43% 137 1.99%
1972 4,235 70.40% 1,490 24.77% 291 4.84%
1968 1,050 16.68% 1,230 19.54% 4,015 63.78%
1964 4,366 78.54% 1,193 21.46% 0 0.00%
1960 1,839 44.90% 1,108 27.05% 1,149 28.05%
1956 1,736 49.56% 1,225 34.97% 542 15.47%
1952 1,915 46.47% 2,206 53.53% 0 0.00%
1948 333 11.37% 940 32.08% 1,657 56.55%
1944 881 38.57% 1,403 61.43% 0 0.00%
1940 382 13.02% 2,552 86.98% 0 0.00%
1936 254 9.60% 2,393 90.40% 0 0.00%
1932 36 1.60% 2,172 96.71% 38 1.69%
1928 533 31.46% 1,161 68.54% 0 0.00%
1924 120 13.09% 797 86.91% 0 0.00%
1920 291 19.70% 963 65.20% 223 15.10%
1916 50 5.45% 868 94.55% 0 0.00%
1912 26 2.50% 600 57.75% 413 39.75%

Notable people
  • Morris N. Abrams, educator[24]
  • O.K. Allen, governor of Louisiana
  • Bryant W. Bailey, politician, Winn Parish sheriff from 1908 to 1912
  • William C. Edenborn, inventor and industrialist[25]
  • T. H. Harris, Louisiana state superintendent of education from 1908 to 1940
  • Huey Long, governor of Louisiana
  • Earl Kemp Long, governor of Louisiana
  • Charlton Lyons, Republican candidate for governor in 1964, practiced law in Winnfield prior to 1930
  • Keith M. Pyburn, state representative for Caddo Parish from 1948 to 1952; born and resided in Dodson in Winn Parish from 1910 to 1925
  • Terry Reeves, district attorney for Winn Parish from 1991 until his death in office in 2005[26]
  • Calvin Marion Robinson, sheriff of Winn Parish prior to 1956
  • Roy Sanders, educator and state representative from Natchitoches Parish from 1948 to 1952; born in Winn Parish

See also

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Winn Parish, Louisiana.
  1. "Census - Geography Profile: Winn Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. "Winn Parish". Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  4. King, William Henry, 1828–1903. (2006). No pardons to ask, nor apologies to make : the journal of William Henry King, Gray's 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. Joiner, Gary D., Joiner, Marilyn S., Cardin, Clifton D. (Clifton Dale), 1957– (1st ed.). Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 1-57233-461-4. OCLC 61204291.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, pp. 164, 310
  6. LeJeune, Keagan (2016). Legendary Louisiana Outlaws: The Villains and Heroes of Folk Justice. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9780807162590.
  7. Keith, Leeanna, The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, & The Death of Reconstruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007
  8. Lane, Charles (2008). The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 9780805083422.
  9. Buddy Jordan obituary, Alexandria Daily Town Talk, February 23, 2012
  10. Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 17, 2007
  11. ""Former Sheriff of Winn Parish Found Guilty: Federal Jury Convicts A. D. "Bodie" Little of Drug Charges Tonight," February 24, 2012" (PDF). justice.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  12. "Tom Kelly, "Third Sheriff Jordan elected in Winn Parish," 2011". thepineywoods.com. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  13. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  14. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Packton
  15. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  16. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  17. "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  18. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  19. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  20. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  21. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Winn Parish, LA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2022. - Text list
  22. "Winn Corr. Center Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine." Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Accessed September 14, 2008.
  23. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  24. "Abrams, Morris Newton". Louisiana Hoistorical Association, A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (lahistory.org). Archived from the original on November 10, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  25. Brock, Eric J. "William Edenborn". Find A Grave Memorial. www.findagrave.com. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  26. Ron Manley. "Terry Ray Reeves". findagrave.com. Retrieved May 17, 2015.

31.95°N 92.64°W / 31.95; -92.64

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