Grant Parish, Louisiana

Grant Parish, Louisiana
Parish
Parish of Grant
Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Region	Central Louisiana
Founded	1869
Named for	Ulysses S. Grant
Parish seat	Colfax
Largest town	Montgomery (area) Colfax (population)
Area
• Total	1,720 km2 (665 sq mi)
• Land	1,670 km2 (643 sq mi)
• Water	60 km2 (22 sq mi)
• percentage	9 km2 (3.3 sq mi)
Population  (2020)
• Total	22,169
• Density	13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code	318
Congressional district	5th

Grant Parish is a parish located in the North Central portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,169.^[1] The parish seat is Colfax.^[2] The parish was founded in 1869 during the Reconstruction era.^[3]

Grant Parish is part of the Alexandria, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area and Red River Valley. From 1940 to 1960, the parish had a dramatic population loss, as many African Americans from the plantation areas left in the Great Migration to seek better opportunities in the North and West. Such migration continued until about 1970. One of the eleven parishes organized during Reconstruction, Grant was created from parts of Winn and Rapides parishes.

Grant Parish is the site of United States Penitentiary, Pollock.

Grant Parish was originally a part of the more populous Rapides Parish to the south. Prior to the American Civil War, the center of activity focused upon "Calhoun's Landing," named for the cotton and sugar planter Meredith Calhoun, a native of South Carolina. Calhoun also published the former National Democrat newspaper in what became Colfax, designated as the seat of government of the new parish.^[4]

Grant was one of several new parishes created by the Reconstruction legislature in an attempt to build the Republican Party in the state. Founded in 1869, it had a slight majority of freedmen, many of whom had worked on cotton plantations in the area. It was named for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.^[5] The parish seat of Colfax was named for Grant's first vice president, Schuyler M. Colfax (whose name is pronounced COAL-facks) of Indiana. However, the town of Colfax is pronounced CAHL-facks. The parish came into existence on March 4, 1869, which also was the day of President Grant's first inauguration.^[6] The parish encompassed both cotton plantations and pinewoods. It was one of several areas along the Red River that had considerable violence during Reconstruction, as whites tried to maintain social control.

The gubernatorial election of 1872 was disputed in the state, and both the Democrats and Republicans certified their slates of local officers. Two inaugurations were held. The election was finally settled in favor of the Republican candidates, but the decision was disputed in certain areas. As social tensions rose, Republican officials took their places at the courthouse in Colfax. They were defended by freedmen and state militia (mostly made up of freedmen), who feared a Democratic Party takeover of the parish. Amid widespread rumors, whites organized a militia and advanced on the courthouse on Easter Sunday, 1873. In the ensuing violence, three whites and 120-150 blacks were killed, including 50 that night who were held as prisoners. Leading late 20th-century historians renamed the Colfax Riot, the original state designation, as the Colfax Massacre. The total number of freedmen deaths were never established because some of the bodies were thrown into the river and woods.

The white militia was led by Christopher Columbus Nash, a Confederate officer who had been a prisoner of war at Johnson's Island in Ohio. It consisted of veterans from Grant and neighboring parishes. The following year, Nash gathered many of the white militia members as the basis of the first chapter of the White League. Other chapters quickly grew up across the state. The White League's organized violence in support of the Democratic Party included widespread intimidation of black voters. The League was integral to white Democrats' regaining power in the state by 1876. Soon after, they effectively disfranchised most blacks, a situation that persisted until after federal enforcement of Civil Rights-era legislation of the mid-1960s.

In December 2016, a courthouse nativity scene in Colfax drew a complaint from the New Orleans chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. In a letter to the Grant Parish Police Jury, the ACLU said that officials must include secular symbols of the Christmas holiday if a nativity scene is placed alone on public property. District Attorney Jay Lemoine objected to the ACLU challenge in a statement to Alexandria Town Talk: "There have been various holiday displays presented both inside and outside the courthouse over many years. This year, as in years past, they include both secular and non-secular symbols. It is unfortunate that some are offended by these displays during this holiday season, as that was not the intent."^[7]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 665 square miles (1,720 km²), of which 643 square miles (1,670 km²) is land and 22 square miles (57 km²) (3.3%) is water.^[8]

• Winn Parish (north)
• La Salle Parish (east)
• Rapides Parish (south)
• Natchitoches Parish (west)

• Kisatchie National Forest (part)

The most famous fossil sites within Louisiana are Creola Bluff at Montgomery Landing Site in the parish.^[9] The Montgomery Landing Site was a 500 meters (1,600 ft) long and 14 meters (46 ft) high bluff that was the cutbank on the east side of the Red River. It exposed the top of the Cockfield Formation, the Moodys Branch Formation, and Tullos Member of the Yazoo Clay. In 1979, it was the site of a large whale skeleton discovery.^[9]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1870	4,517		—
1880	6,188		37.0%
1890	8,270		33.6%
1900	12,902		56.0%
1910	15,958		23.7%
1920	14,403		−9.7%
1930	15,709		9.1%
1940	15,933		1.4%
1950	14,263		−10.5%
1960	13,330		−6.5%
1970	13,671		2.6%
1980	16,703		22.2%
1990	17,526		4.9%
2000	18,698		6.7%
2010	22,309		19.3%
2020	22,169		−0.6%
U.S. Decennial Census[10] 1790-1960[11] 1900-1990[12] 1990-2000[13] 2010[14]

Grant Parish racial composition^[15]

Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	16,678	75.23%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	3,060	13.8%
Native American	193	0.87%
Asian	67	0.3%
Pacific Islander	6	0.03%
Other/Mixed	832	3.75%
Hispanic or Latino	1,333	6.01%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 22,169 people, 6,989 households, and 4,651 families residing in the parish.

As of the census^[16] of 2000, there were 18,698 people, 7,073 households, and 5,276 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 inhabitants per square mile (11/km²). There were 8,531 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5.0/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 85.43% White, 11.88% Black or African American, 0.89% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.28% from two or more races. 1.14% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The decreases in population from 1910 to 1920, and from 1940 to 1960, were chiefly caused by different phases of the Great Migration, as African Americans left segregation and oppression of the South to seek better opportunities in the North, during the first phase, and in the West, especially California's defense industry, in the second phase. Tens of thousands of migrants left Louisiana during times of agricultural difficulties and the collapse of agricultural labor after mechanization.^[17]

In 2000, there were 7,073 households, out of which 36.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.20% were married couples living together, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.40% were non-families. 22.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% 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 3.06.

In the parish the population was spread out, with 28.30% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 12.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.00 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $29,622, and the median income for a family was $34,878. Males had a median income of $31,235 versus $20,470 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $14,410. About 16.90% of families and 21.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.30% of those under age 18 and 16.20% of those age 65 or over.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons U.S. Penitentiary, Pollock is located in an unincorporated area in the parish, near Pollock.^[18][19]

Today Grant Parish is majority white and votes strongly Republican. Mitt Romney polled 7,082 votes (81.7 percent) in his 2012 race against the Democrat U.S. President Barack H. Obama, who trailed with 1,422 votes (16.4 percent).^[20] In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona swept the parish, with 6,907 votes (80.7 percent) to Obama's 1,474 (17.2 percent).^[21]

In 1992, George Herbert Walker Bush carried Grant Parish but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection. He polled 3,214 votes (40.8 percent) to Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas's 3,122 (39.6 percent). This son of the South carried numerous other Republican-leaning jurisdictions. Ross Perot, who later founded the Reform Party, polled 1,174 (14.9 percent).^[22] In 1996, Republican Robert J. Dole narrowly won in Grant Parish over U.S. President Bill Clinton, a son of the South, with 3,117 votes (42.8 percent) to 2,980 (40.9 percent). Ross Perot polled another 1,055 (14.5 percent).^[23]

The last Democrat to win in Grant Parish at the presidential level was former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia in his 1976 defeat of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., who had Bob Dole as his vice-presidential partner.^[24]

Republican nominee Donald Trump was a runaway winner in Grant Parish in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton: 7,408 (84 percent) to 1,181 (13 percent).^[25]

United States presidential election results for Grant Parish, Louisiana^[26]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	7,925	87.88%	996	11.04%	97	1.08%
2020	8,117	86.42%	1,157	12.32%	118	1.26%
2016	7,408	83.98%	1,181	13.39%	232	2.63%
2012	7,082	81.71%	1,422	16.41%	163	1.88%
2008	6,907	80.71%	1,474	17.22%	177	2.07%
2004	5,911	73.97%	1,977	24.74%	103	1.29%
2000	4,784	67.81%	2,099	29.75%	172	2.44%
1996	3,117	42.75%	2,980	40.87%	1,195	16.39%
1992	3,214	40.80%	3,122	39.63%	1,542	19.57%
1988	4,402	60.76%	2,628	36.27%	215	2.97%
1984	5,334	65.88%	2,588	31.96%	175	2.16%
1980	3,611	50.52%	3,290	46.03%	247	3.46%
1976	2,280	37.16%	3,670	59.81%	186	3.03%
1972	3,626	76.51%	859	18.13%	254	5.36%
1968	1,113	20.18%	932	16.90%	3,470	62.92%
1964	3,292	69.36%	1,454	30.64%	0	0.00%
1960	1,254	32.30%	1,219	31.40%	1,409	36.30%
1956	1,630	46.06%	1,542	43.57%	367	10.37%
1952	1,443	35.29%	2,646	64.71%	0	0.00%
1948	273	9.61%	1,120	39.44%	1,447	50.95%
1944	556	22.28%	1,939	77.72%	0	0.00%
1940	232	8.39%	2,534	91.61%	0	0.00%
1936	511	21.67%	1,847	78.33%	0	0.00%
1932	81	3.96%	1,966	96.00%	1	0.05%
1928	505	33.05%	1,023	66.95%	0	0.00%
1924	167	21.92%	595	78.08%	0	0.00%
1920	109	13.92%	674	86.08%	0	0.00%
1916	31	4.59%	640	94.81%	4	0.59%
1912	15	2.09%	446	62.20%	256	35.70%

Public schools in Grant Parish are operated by the Grant Parish School Board.

A Company 199TH FSB (Forward Support Battalion) resides in Colfax, Louisiana. This unit deployed twice to Iraq as part of the 256TH IBCT in 2004-5 and 2010.

• Colfax (parish seat and largest municipality)
• Montgomery
• Pollock

• Creola
• Dry Prong
• Georgetown

• Prospect
• Rock Hill

• Aloha
• Antonia
• Bentley
• Fishville
• Hargis
• Oak Grove
• Selma
• Verda

Name	Address	Zip	Aged
Grant Parish Detention Center	Richardson Drive, Colfax, Louisiana	71417	18+

• W. K. Brown, state representative from Grant Parish from 1960 to 1972
• Joe T. Cawthorn (1911-1967), lawyer, businessman, and politician affiliated with the Long faction, born in Selma in Grant Parish, resided in Mansfield in DeSoto Parish^[27]
• Billy Ray Chandler, state representative from Grant Parish, 2006-2012
• Jesse C. Deen (1922-2015), state representative from primarily Bossier Parish, 1972–1988; reared in the Hargis Community near Montgomery
• Stephen Lee "Steve" Gunn, former mayor of Montgomery; represented Grant Parish in the legislature as an Independent from 1992 to 1996
• Leonard R. "Pop" Hataway, sheriff of Grant Parish, 1976 to 2008; member of the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Paroles; member of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame^[28]
• Ed Head (1918–1980), Major League Baseball player who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers
• Swords Lee, timber owner from Pollock and Alexandria; former Grant Parish assessor and state representative^[29]
• W. T. McCain (1913-1993) - State representative for Grant Parish 1940 to 1948; first state court judge for only Grant Parish (1976), lawyer in Colfax
• W.L. Rambo, member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature from Georgetown.
• Richard S. Thompson (1916-1997), state representative from Grant Parish from 1972 to 1984
• Russ Springer, Major League baseball player

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Grant Parish, Louisiana

31°35′N 92°34′W / 31.59°N 92.56°W / 31.59; -92.56