Plain Dealing, Louisiana
Encyclopedia
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
, 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...
best known as the birthplace of former U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. The population was 1,071 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
–Bossier City
Bossier City, Louisiana
Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area
The Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in northwestern Louisiana that covers three parishes – Caddo, Bossier, and De Soto. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 375,965...
.
History
Plain Dealing recorded the state's hottest temperature ever, 114 degrees, on August 10, 1936.The Plain Dealing Post newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
was established in the 1980s by publisher Danny D. Scott of nearby Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
.
Geography
Plain Dealing is located at 32°54′21"N 93°42′0"W (32.905898, -93.699896).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 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
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 1,071 people, 418 households, and 280 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 673.0 people per square mile (260.1/km²). There were 481 housing units at an average density of 302.2 per square mile (116.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 55.28% White, 42.67% African American, 0.65% Native American, 0.09% Asian, and 1.31% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.47% of the population.
There were 418 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% 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, 20.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 81.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $24,706, and the median income for a family was $32,361. Males had a median income of $32,132 versus $25,455 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 $14,906. About 23.6% of families and 26.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.9% of those under age 18 and 20.4% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
- Bill Wilson (1922–2006), United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
flight instructor during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Farmer and used car dealer.
- John J. DolesJohn J. DolesJohn Jones Doles, Sr. , was a banker in Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish who served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1952 to 1956, the tenure corresponding with the administration of Governor Robert F. Kennon...
(1895–1970), member of the Louisiana State SenateLouisiana State LegislatureThe 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 1952–1956 and president of the Louisiana Bankers Association from 1956-1957.
- John J. Doles, Jr.John J. DolesJohn Jones Doles, Sr. , was a banker in Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish who served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1952 to 1956, the tenure corresponding with the administration of Governor Robert F. Kennon...
(1923–2004), Plain Dealing banker and civic leader
- Forrest DunnForrest DunnGeorge Forrest Dunn, Jr. , is the retired administrator of the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, having served from 1972 to 1984 in the now majority African American District 3 seat. In 1980, Dunn made an ill-fated...
, former member of the Louisiana House of RepresentativesLouisiana State LegislatureThe 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 ShreveportShreveport, LouisianaShreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
and director of the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum at the state fairgrounds
- Rupert PeytonRupert PeytonRupert Rudolph Peyton was an anti-Long member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish, having served at-large for a single four-year term from 1932-1936...
(1899–1982), former state representative from Caddo Parish; Bossier Parish native who attended Plain Dealing High School
- Leon Sanders, Jr. (1913–2004), mayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Plain Dealing from September 16, 1958—December 31, 1998. He worked for the completion of dams and lakes and the new city hall, constructed without additional taxation. Sanders owned and operated Sanders Department StoreDepartment storeA department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
, which burned in 1999, causing the loss of valuable papers and irreplaceable items. Sanders' sister, Eloise S. Watkins (1910–1985), was a home economicsHome EconomicsHome economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
teacherTeacherA teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
at Minden High SchoolMinden High School (Minden, Louisiana)Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
in neighboring Webster Parish.
- Wilburn SnyderWilburn SnyderWilburn L. Snyder was a Baptist pastor in Houston, Texas, and a survivor of the Bataan Death March and internment in the Philippine Islands during World War II....
(1923–2008), a BaptistBaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister in the HoustonHouston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
area and a survivor of the Bataan Death MarchBataan Death MarchThe Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
in the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, was born in Plain Dealing.
- A.P. Tugwell (1889–1976), born in Plain Dealing, was the longest-serving Louisiana state treasurerTreasurerA treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
.
- Joseph David "Joe" Waggonner, Jr.Joe WaggonnerJoseph David Waggonner, Jr. , better known as Joe D. Waggonner, was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Bossier Parish who represented the old 4th Congressional District of northwest Louisiana from December 1961 until January 1979. He was also a confidant of Republican U.S...
(1918–2007), a former U.S. Representative, was born in Plain Dealing and interred at Plain Dealing Cemetery.
- Willie E. Waggonner (1905–1976), former sheriffSheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Bossier Parish