Avoyelles (French: Paroisse des Avoyelles) is a parish located in central eastern Louisiana on the
Red River where it effectively becomes the Atchafalaya River and meets the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,693. The parish seat is Marksville. The parish was created in 1807, with the name deriving from the French name for the historic Avoyel people, one of the local Indian tribes at the time of European encounter.
Today the parish is the base of the federally recognized Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, who have a reservation there. The tribe has a land-based gambling casino on their reservation. It is located in Marksville, the parish seat, which is partly within reservation land.
Contents
History
Native Americans occupied this area beginning around 300 BC. Varying indigenous cultures flourished there in the following centuries. Today on the banks of the old Mississippi River channel in Marksville, three large burial mounds have been preserved from the Mississippian culture, which flourished especially along the upper Mississippi, the Ohio River and other tributaries, from about 900 AD to 1500 AD. Mounds of its major city, Cahokia, are preserved in western Illinois across the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri. The trading network reached from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. A museum and a National Park commemorate this early culture.
The Tunica people had bands whose territory extended into the central Mississippi Valley. They absorbed the smaller remnant of Avoyel people nearly two centuries ago. Through the years, they also intermarried with the more numerous Biloxi people. The peoples organized politically in the 20th century and were federally recognized in 1981 as the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe. They are the largest Native American tribe in Avoyelles Parish and have a reservation that extends into Marksville. Descendants of other smaller tribes are also enrolled in this tribe.
Avoyelles Parish is known for its French colonial history and tradition of French language use. The contemporary Creole traditions, in both music and food, reflect Native American, African and European influences. While Avoyelles has a distinctive history of European immigrants, highly influenced by the French in its early history, it is considered the most northern of the 22 "Acadiana" parishes. These have a tradition of settlement by French-speaking refugees from Acadia (now eastern Canada) in the late 18th century. They contributed strongly to the development of culture in this area, as did Africans and the indigenous Native Americans. The parish is noted for its brand of Cajun/Creole style music and its gumbo, a popular soup with roots in the three major ethnicities noted above.
The central part of Avoyelles Parish is sited on a large plateau, slightly above the floodplain of the waterways. Travel by water was long the primary way to move around this area. The Indians used canoes, and the early French settlers developed their own boats, known as pirogues.
Records from the Catholic churches in Mansura and Marksville document the founding of a trading post and a Catholic school by French colonists. The merchants wanted to conduct fur trading with the Tunica Tribe and the missionaries hoped to convert the natives to Christianity. The trading post was built near the Avoyel/Tunica settlement; it was preserved until the mid-1960s. Historic roadside markers on LA 1 identify the site of the historic Catholic mission school.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 866 square miles (2,240 km2), of which 832 square miles (2,150 km2) is land and 33 square miles (85 km2) (3.8%) is water. The parish is bounded on the east by what was just the Red River in the first millennium CE, and is now the Red River and Atchafalaya River. The formation of the Atchafalaya River happened when the Mississippi River changed course, breaking up the Red River. In the 20th century the Old River Control Structure was built at this area to control the flow of the three rivers.
Major highways
Interstate 49
U.S. Highway 71
Louisiana Highway 1
Louisiana Highway 29
Louisiana Highway 107
Louisiana Highway 114
Louisiana Highway 115
National protected areas
Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge
The "Island"
During the Great Flood of 1927, the Mississippi River had reached high levels after torrential rainfall. The river had flooded vast amounts of land in Louisiana. Most flooding occurred in the region of Avoyelles. Avoyelles Parish was almost completely flooded, except for a small bit of land located in Fifth Ward. The "Island" as the locals began to call it, was along Island Rd, towards the end of present-day Louisiana Highway 1194, and near the Choctaw Bayou and Grand Cote NWR.
Demographics
2020 census
At the 2020 United States census, there were 39,693 people, 15,163 households, and 9,840 families residing in the parish, up from 42,073 residents in 2010. At the census of 2000, there were 41,481 people, 14,736 households, and 10,580 families living in the parish. The population density was 50 people per square mile (19 people/km2). There were 16,576 housing units at an average density of 20 per square mile (7.7/km2).
In 2000, the racial makeup of the parish was 68.47% White, 29.49% Black or African American, 1.01% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.19% from other races, and 0.66% from two or more races. 0.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 17.64% reported speaking French or Cajun French at home, while 2.12% speak Spanish. In 2020, its racial makeup was 63.58% non-Hispanic white, 26.83% Black or African American, 0.88% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 4.1% multiracial, and 3.74% Hispanic or Latino American.
In 2000, there were 14,736 households, out of which 36.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.70% were married couples living together, 15.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.20% were non-families. 25.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the parish the population was spread out, with 26.80% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 13.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.90 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $23,851, and the median income for a family was $29,389. Males had a median income of $27,122 versus $18,250 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $12,146. About 21.70% of families and 25.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.50% of those under age 18 and 25.00% of those age 65 or over.
Education
All primary public schools are run by the Avoyelles Parish School Board. It operates 10 schools with an enrollment over 6,000 students. The school board website is Avoyelles Parish School Board.
Elementary
Cottonport Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Cottonport)
Bunkie Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Bunkie)
Lafargue Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Effie)
Marksville Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Marksville)
Plaucheville Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Plaucheville)
Riverside Elementary (Grades PK-6) (Simmesport)
Sacred Heart School (Grades PK-8) Moreauville
St. Anthony of Padua School (Grades PK-8) Bunkie
St. Joseph School (Grades PK-12) Plaucheville
St. Mary of the Assumption School (Grades PK-8) Cottonport
Nazarene Christian Academy (Grades K-12) Marksville
High school
Avoyelles High School (Grades 7-12) (Moreauville)
Avoyelles Public Charter School (Grades PK-12) (Mansura)
Bunkie High School (Grades 7-12) (Bunkie)
LASAS (Louisiana School for the Agricultural Sciences) (Grades 7-12) (Bunkie)
Marksville High School (Grades 7-12) (Marksville)
St. Joseph's High School of Plaucheville (Grades PK-12) (Plaucheville)
Nazarene Christian Academy (Grades PK-12) (Marksville)
National Guard
The 1020th Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in Marksville, Louisiana. The 1086TH Transportation Company of the 165TH CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion of the 139TH RSG (Regional Support Group) resides in Bunkie, Louisiana.
Communities
Cities
Bunkie
Marksville (parish seat and largest municipality)
Towns
Cottonport
Evergreen
Mansura
Simmesport
Villages
Hessmer
Moreauville
Plaucheville
DMA
Alexandria LA DMA
Unincorporated areas
Bordelonville
Center Point
Fifth Ward
Notable people
Artists, authors and entertainers:
Sue Eakin, historian, author of Avoyelles Parish: Crossroads of Louisiana
Alcide "Blind Uncle" Gaspard, early recording artist of traditional Cajun music.
Little Walter, Marion Walter Jacobs. musician and harmonica player, elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ruth McEnery Stuart, Marksville
Solomon Northup, a free man from Saratoga Springs, New York, was held for nearly 12 years as a slave in Avoyelles Parish after being kidnapped and sold before the American Civil War; he was freed in 1853 by New York and Marksville officials after being traced here. Published his memoir, Twelve Years a Slave (1854), which became a best-selling book. It was adapted as a 2013 film of the same name, which won Academy Awards.
Athletes:
Mark Duper, Moreauville Miami Dolphins wide receiver
Allen Barbre, an American football offensive tackle who plays for the Denver Broncos.
Other:
John Baptist Lafargue (1864–?), American educator, newspaper publisher, editor
Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" in the landmark Roe v. Wade (1972) decision, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that women had a right to determine whether they would have an abortion.
Felix Eugene Moncla Jr., United States Air Force pilot who disappeared over Lake Superior in 1953.