Gibsland is a town in Bienville Parish

Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Conveniently near Interstate 20 and less than an hour from both Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana, Gibsland offers small town living with access to urban amenities. Gibsland is located only minutes away from Louisiana Tech University, Grambling State University, Northwest Louisiana Technical College and other technical-vocational schools. It is surrounded by many lakes within a 30 to 40-minute drive and some of Louisiana's best fishing, deer, and turkey hunting makes Gibsland and Bienville Parish a true sportsman's paradise.

The town is best known for its connecting railroads, the birthplace of Coleman College and the nearby capture in 1934 of the bandits Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...

.

Utility information

Gas * Electric * Broadband Internet * Phone * Water - Provided by Town of Gibsland * Public Sewer - Provided by Town of Gibsland * Trash Pickup - Provided by Town of Gibsland

Coleman College - Founded in Gibsland

In 1890, with ten students, Coleman Baptist Male and Female College opened its doors to educate the children of freed slaves in northern Louisiana. The institution’s primary vision and mission was to produce teachers and preachers.

Supported by the Southern Baptist Church, at the height of its existence Coleman College owned some 100 acres, of which ten were devoted to educational purposes. There were eight buildings which included classrooms, auditoriums, dormitories and an administrative building. Extracurricular activities included the Coleman College Choir, a Glee Club and intercollegiate athletics. Nicknamed the Bulldogs, Coleman College’s chief athletic rival was the Grambling College Tigers. Enrollment reached as high as 400 in some years and Coleman College graduated hundreds of teachers and preachers before closing its doors in 1944. Among its graduates were the first president of Louisiana’s Southern University, Dr. J.S. Clark, and Ada Bell Lewis Coleman, the mother of Mildred Coleman Marks, Georgia Coleman McClaron and Geraldine Coleman Gaillord (the oldest surviving heirs) and the late McVicker Monroe Coleman, Jr. Professor Coleman, leaves behind a strong legacy of public service through his great-grandson John R. Marks III, the Mayor of Tallahassee

Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

Professor Coleman, founder and president of Coleman College, died March 1927 in Jackson

Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Coleman College re-opened in Shreveport in late 1944. By the year 1946 the school’s Board of Trustees had paid the last note on property that was located where Winnfield Funeral Home now sits in the Mooretown Community at 3701 Hollywood Avenue. Decreased enrollment caused the school to go out of existence in the mid-1950s. The original site of Coleman College became
Coleman High School and after integration with the all white Gibsland High School during the late 1960s the school was renamed, Gibsland-Coleman Complex.

Jesse N. Stone

Jesse N. Stone

Jesse Nealand Stone, Jr. , was an African American attorney and educator from Shreveport, Louisiana, who broke past color barriers in state government....

, the fourth president of the Southern University System

Southern University System

The Southern University System is a system of universities in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its headquarters are at the Joseph Samuel Clark Administration Building on the property of the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge...

, based in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

, was a Gibsland native, as was former Louisiana Tech University

Louisiana Tech University

Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...

 president F. Jay Taylor

F. Jay Taylor

Foster Jay Taylor, known as F. Jay Taylor , was a historian who served from 1962 to 1987 as the president of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana...

. Born in nearby Taylor was the Louisiana Tech speech professor and long-time principal of Castor High School, E. R. Minchew

E. R. Minchew

Elmer Reid Minchew, usually known as E. R. Minchew , was a prominent Louisiana educator whose career spanned the forty-six years from 1929 to 1975.-Background:...

.

Brief railroad history

First incorporated in 1889, the Louisiana & North West Railroad Company operates 62 miles of shortline between Gibsland, Louisiana, northward to McNeil, Arkansas. The LNW interchanges on both ends of the line: with the Union Pacific (former St. Louis Southwestern) in McNeil; Kansas City Southern (former MidSouth, ICG) at Gibsland.

For many years the road was well-known among railfans for its unusual stable of F7 "covered wagons" -- unusual motive power of choice for a backwoods southern shortline. In the early 1990s, the F units were sold off to various places, gradually replaced by Geeps from various locations. The LNW shops are located at Gibsland, a few hundred yards from one of the BUSIEST INTERCHANGE DIAMONDS in all of the state. For decades, three different railroads interchanged in the north Louisiana town of Gibsland. The switching activity could get so hectic the daily routine was known among railfans as the "GIBSLAND SHUFFLE."

Geography

Gibsland is located at 32°32′34"N 93°3′13"W (32.542675, -93.053511).

According to the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the town has a total area of 2.7 square miles (7 km²), of which 2.7 square miles (7 km²) is land and 0.38% is water.

Demographics

As of the census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 1,119 people, 475 households, and 293 families residing in the town. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 422.2 people per square mile (163.0/km²). There were 568 housing units at an average density of 214.3 per square mile (82.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 16.26% White, 82.75% African American, 0.36% Asian, 0.36% from other races

Race (United States Census)

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.36% of the population.

There were 475 households out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.4% were married couples

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 23.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the town the population was spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 83.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $19,250, and the median income for a family was $22,098. Males had a median income of $25,789 versus $18,958 for females. The per capita income

Per capita income

Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the town was $12,185. About 27.5% of families and 34.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.3% of those under age 18 and 23.9% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Festivals

Jonquil Jubilee and Historic and Garden Tour and the Bonnie and Clyde Festival are celebrated annually. The Jonquil Jubilee offers advice to area gardeners from botanists.

Bonnie and Clyde

The Bonnie and Clyde Festival is held in Gibsland in mid-May. It features a staged bank robbery by actors portraying the infamous duo. The festival has been featured on the television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 program Weird U.S.

Weird U.S.

Weird U.S. is a reality television series, and book of the same name, on the History Channel starring Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman as they hunt the United States looking for weird history, hauntings, and legends because, as they say, "history is full of weirdos." It is produced by KPI TV...

 on The History Channel

The History Channel

History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...

. Bonnie and Clyde were killed off Louisiana Highway 154 south of Gibsland toward Sailes.

Gibsland is home to the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum located in the former cafe where the outlaws ate their last meal, a breakfast. The museum is operated by L.J. "Boots" Hinton (born ca. 1933), formerly of Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, a son of posse member Ted Hinton

Ted Hinton

Ted Hinton was a Dallas County, Texas, Deputy Sheriff, the youngest of the posse that ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde near Gibsland, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934.-History:...

. The museum exhibits also mention the local posse members brought in for jurisdictional reasons, Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan

Henderson Jordan (Louisiana sheriff)

Henderson Jordan , as sheriff of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, was one of six law enforcement officers who on May 23, 1934, ambushed the fugitives Bonnie and Clyde in a deadly encounter on Louisiana Highway 154 between Gibsland and Sailes to the south.-Background:According to his grave...

 (1896–1958) and his chief deputy and successor as sheriff, Prentiss Oakley.

Gibsland-Coleman Alumni

Gibsland-Coleman Alumni Association was organized in 1981. The first reunion was held in July 1981. The Gibsland-Coleman Alumni Association is a non-profit organization of alumni and other individuals who are interested in supporting the organization-mainly providing college scholarships annually to graduating seniors. Chapters are located in Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland, Gibsland and the State of Maryland. The reunion is held in Gibsland annually during the first weekend of July.

Government

Odis Odell Key is the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Gibsland.

Pinkie C. Wilkerson

Pinkie C. Wilkerson

Pinkie Carolyn Wilkerson was an African American member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from her native Grambling, west of Ruston, Louisiana, who served from 1992 until her death in a six-vehicle traffic accident on Interstate 20 in Bossier City, Louisiana. Wilkerson was particularly...

, an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, represented Gibsland in the Louisiana House of Representatives

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

from 1992 until her death in an automobile accident in 2000. A Gibsland street bears her name.

External links

• Town of Gibsland