Claiborne Parish () is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

located in the northwestern section of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. The parish was formed in 1828, and was named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,170. The

parish seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in ...

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

History

John Murrell moved his family from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

to the Flat Lick Bayou area about 6 miles west of present-day Homer in 1818, and they became the first known non-natives to permanently settle in Claiborne Parish. As more settlers moved into the area, the Murrell house served as a church, school and post office. When the state legislature created Claiborne Parish out of

Natchitoches Parish Natchitoches Parish ( or ) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 37,515. The parish seat and most populous municipality is Nat ...

in 1828, all governmental business, including court, began being held in the Murrell house. This continued until the new parish's police jury selected Russellville (now a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

located northeast of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

) as the parish seat. As the population began swelling in what was then the western part of the parish, the seat was moved to Overton (another modern ghost town found near

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

) in 1836, because of its position at the head of the navigable portion of Dorcheat Bayou. Due to flooding and health concerns, the parish seat was moved to Athens in 1846, but an 1848 fire destroyed the courthouse and all the records in it. Soon thereafter the Claiborne Police Jury chose the present site for the parish seat, which came to be named, Homer. Much of the area history is preserved in the Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum, located across from the parish courthouse in Homer.

Government and infrastructure

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

and Haynesville.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (1.6%) is water.

Major highways

* Future Interstate 69 * U.S. Highway 79 *

Louisiana Highway 2 Louisiana Highway 2 (LA 2) is a state highway located in northern Louisiana. It runs in an east–west direction from the Texas state line southwest of Vivian to a junction with U.S. Highway 65 (US 65) near Lake Providence, just w ...

Louisiana Highway 9 Louisiana Highway 9 (LA 9) is a state highway located in northern Louisiana. It runs in a north–south direction from the concurrent U.S. Highways 71 and 84 (US 71-84) in Campti to a junction with the concurrent US 63 and ...

Adjacent parishes

Columbia County, Arkansas Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,801. The county seat is Magnolia. The county was formed on December 17, 1852, and was named for Christopher Columbus. The Magnolia, ...

(northwest) *

Union County, Arkansas Union County is a county located on the central southern border of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,054. The county seat is El Dorado. The county was formed on November 2, 1829, and named in recognition ...

(northeast) *

Union Parish Union Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de l'Union'') is a parish located in the north central section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,107. The parish seat is Farmerville. The parish was created on M ...

(east) * Lincoln Parish (southeast) * Bienville Parish (south) * Webster Parish (west)

National protected area

Kisatchie National Forest Kisatchie National Forest, the only National forest in Louisiana, United States, is located in the forested piney hills and hardwood bottoms of seven central and northern parishes. It is part of the Cenozoic uplands (some of Louisiana's oldest ...

(part)

Communities

Map of Claiborne Parish Louisiana With Municipal Labels

Towns

* Haynesville *

(parish seat and largest municipality)

Villages

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

* Junction City

Unincorporated communities

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

* Colquitt * Lake Claiborne * Marsalis * Russellville * Sugar Creek * Summerfield * Weldon

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,170 people, 5,917 households, and 3,718 families residing in the parish.

Politics

With a narrow majority of African Americans in the population, Claiborne Parish in the years after the civil rights movement was primarily Democratic in political complexion. In

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

George Herbert Walker Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

prevailed in Claiborne Parish with 3,756 votes (53.6 percent).

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Michael S. Dukakis of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

trailed with 3,158 votes (45.1 percent). In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

of neighboring

, obtained 3,609 votes (53.6 percent) in Claiborne Parish. Republican

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

polled 2,500 votes (37.1 percent). However, by 2008,

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John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

easily carried the parish in his losing race to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. McCain polled 3,750 votes (54.8 percent) to Obama's 3,025 votes (44.2 percent). In 2012,

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

carried the parish, with 3,649 votes (54.2 percent), nearly identical to the McCain tally four years earlier. President Obama received 3,014 votes (44.8 percent), or .6 of 1 percent greater than his earlier tabulation.

Education

Claiborne Parish School Board Claiborne Parish School Board is a school district headquartered in Homer, Louisiana, United States. The district serves all of Claiborne Parish. Former Claiborne Superintendent Gary Lee Jones became a Republican member of the Louisiana B ...

serves the entire parish.

Claiborne Academy Claiborne Academy is a private, non-profit, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school located in unincorporated Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, between Haynesville and Homer. It was founded in 1969 as a segregation academy. Their nickname is ...

is a private institution in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the parish, near Haynesville.

Notable people

Prominent Claiborne Parish residents include or have included: * Henry Walton Bibb American author, abolitionist, and former slave from 1839 to 1841 * T. H. Harris, state education superintendent from 1908 to 1940. * Andrew R. Johnson was a state senator from Claiborne and Bienville parishes from 1916 to 1924. * John Sidney Killen, state representative for Claiborne Parish in 1871 * Joe LeSage, state senator for Caddo Parish from 1968 to 1972; Shreveport attorney born in Homer * George H. Mahon, Former U.S. Representative. * James T. McCalman, state senator from Claiborne and Bienville parishes from 1960 to 1964. * Danny Roy Moore, state senator from 1964 to 1968. * Dave L. Pearce, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1952 to 1956 and 1960–1976. * Larry Sale, sheriff of Claiborne Parish from 1936 to 1944; bodyguard at the assassination of Huey Pierce Long Jr. * Richard Stalder, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. * David Wade,

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. * Loy F. Weaver, state representative from 1976 to 1984. * Mule Watson, pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1918 to 1924. *

Pinkie C. Wilkerson Pinkie may refer to: Biology * Pinky finger or little finger * Pinkie, a baby Mouse#As feed, mouse used as a food for exotic pets * Bilby or pinkie, an animal in Southern Australia * Pinkie, a rosemary cultivar People *Pinkie (given name) * Pink ...

state representative from 1992 to 2000. * Patrick Floyd Garrett, Sheriff of Lincoln County New Mexico, and killer of Billy the Kid.

Gallery

File:Claiborne Parish Library, Homer, LA IMG 6324.JPG, Claiborne Parish Library in

File:Port Au Prince Restaurant, Claiborne Parish, LA IMG 5232.JPG, alt=Begun by Ruth Gantt Prince (1928-2014) and owned and operated by Daniel and Caitlin Prince, the Port-au-Prince Restaurant on Louisiana Highway 146 at Lake Claiborne specializes in catfish. The Princes are opening a second similar restaurant on Cross Lake in Shreveport., The Port-au-Prince Restaurant on Louisiana Highway 146 at Lake Claiborne. File:Hay field north of Athens, LA IMG 3638.JPG, Rolled hay in a farm field north of

(May 2010) File:Abandoned house in Claiborne Parish, LA IMG 3599.JPG, alt=Typical of parts of rural Louisiana is this abandoned house in western Claiborne Parish., Abandoned house in western Claiborne Parish. File:Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office IMG 3902.JPG, Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Department in

File:Revised Holly Springs Baptist Church, Claiborne Parish, LA, IMG 3905.JPG, alt=Holly Springs Baptist Church west of Homer on U.S. Highway 79 is among rural congregations in Claiborne Parish. It has maintained a small cemetery since 1952 located across the highway from the sanctuary., Holly Springs Baptist Church west of

on U.S. Highway 79 File:Claiborne Academy in Claiborne Parish, LA IMG 0878.JPG,

References

External links

Claiborne Parish official website

Water Resources of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

{{authority control Louisiana parishes 1828 establishments in Louisiana Populated places established in 1828 Majority-minority parishes in Louisiana