Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Bossier Parish (Paroisse de Bossier ) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 128,746.

The parish seat is Benton. The principal city is Bossier City, which is located east of the Red River and across from the larger city of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The parish was formed in 1843 from the western portion of Claiborne Parish. Bossier Parish is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area, the largest metropolitan area in North Louisiana.

Lake Bistineau and Lake Bistineau State Park are included in parts of Bossier and neighboring Webster and Bienville parishes. Loggy Bayou flows south from Lake Bistineau in southern Bossier Parish, traverses western Bienville Parish, and in Red River Parish joins the Red River.

History
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, an ethnic French, 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. In July 1861, at the start of the war, the Bossier Parish Police Jury appropriated $35,000 for the benefit of Confederate volunteers and their family members left behind, an amount then considered generous.

After the war, whites used violence and intimidation to maintain dominance over the newly emancipated freedmen. From the end of Reconstruction into the 20th century, violence increased as conservative white Democrats struggled to maintain power over the state. In this period, Bossier Parish had 26 lynchings of African Americans by whites, part of racial terrorism. This was the fifth-highest total of any parish in Louisiana, tied with the total in Iberia Parish in the South of the state. Overall, parishes in northwest Louisiana had the highest rates of lynchings.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 867 sqmi, of which 840 sqmi is land and 27 sqmi (3.1%) is water. Four miles east of Bossier City is Barksdale Air Force Base.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-20.svg|25px]] Interstate 20
 * [[Image:I-220.svg|25px]] Interstate 220
 * [[Image:I-69 (Future).svg|25px]] Future Interstate 69
 * [[Image:US 71.svg|25px]] U.S. Highway 71
 * [[Image:US 79.svg|25px]] U.S. Highway 79
 * [[Image:US 80.svg|25px]] U.S. Highway 80
 * [[Image:Louisiana 2 (2008).svg|25px]] Louisiana Highway 2
 * [[Image:Louisiana 3 (2008).svg|25px]] Louisiana Highway 3

Adjacent counties and parishes

 * Miller County, Arkansas (northwest)
 * Lafayette County, Arkansas (north)
 * Webster Parish (east)
 * Bienville Parish (southeast)
 * Red River Parish (south)
 * Caddo Parish (west)

National protected area

 * Red River National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Cities

 * Bossier City (largest municipality)
 * Shreveport (partial)

Towns

 * Benton (parish seat)
 * Haughton
 * Plain Dealing (smallest municipality)

Census-designated places

 * Eastwood
 * Red Chute

Unincorporated communities

 * Elm Grove
 * Fillmore
 * Princeton, birthplace of George Dement
 * Taylortown

2020 census
At the 2020 United States census, there were 128,746 people, 49,735 households, and 33,963 families residing in the parish. According to the 2010 U.S. census, there were 116,979 people, 62,000 households, and 37,500 families residing in the parish. The population density was 142 PD/sqmi. There were 49,000 housing units at an average density of 48 /mi2.

The racial makeup of the parish in 2010 was 70.66% White, 18.52% Black or African American, 0.82% Native American, 2.18% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 1.00% from other races, and 1.65% from two or more races; 8.15% of the population were Hispanic or Latino American of any race. According to the 2019 American Community Survey, the racial and ethnic makeup of the parish was 65.9% non-Hispanic white, 23.2% African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.9% some other race, 1.7% two or more races, and 6.9% Hispanic or Latino American of any race. In 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup was 61.35% non-Hispanic white, 23.2% African American, 0.45% Native American, 1.82% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 5.15% multiracial, and 7.95% Hispanic or Latino American of any race, reflecting nationwide demographic trends of mass diversification.

Law, government and politics
Bossier Parish is governed by a 12-member elected body: the Bossier Parish Police Jury (which is equivalent to a county commission in other states). Members are elected from single-member districts.The current members of the police jury are:
 * District 1 - Bob Brotherton
 * District 2 - Glenn Benton
 * District 3 - Philip Rogers
 * District 4 - John Ed Jordan
 * District 5 - Julianna Parks
 * District 6 - Chris Marsiglia
 * District 7 - Jimmy Cochran
 * District 8 - Douglas E. Rimmer
 * District 9 - Charles Gray
 * District 10 - Jerome Darby
 * District 11 - Tom Salzer
 * District 12 - Paul M. "Mac" Plummer

Since the late 20th century, the non-Hispanic white population of the parish has shifted from the Democratic to the Republican Party (as have most conservative whites in Louisiana and other Southern U.S. states). The state was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party from the period after the turn of the century (when most Blacks were disenfranchised in Louisiana) to the mid-20th century.

Bossier Parish has since reliably voted for Republican candidates in most contested U.S. presidential elections. Since 1952, George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama who ran in 1968 on the American Independent Party ticket, has been the only non-Republican to carry Bossier Parish.

In 2008, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona won in Bossier Parish with 32,713 votes (71.4 percent) over Democrat Barack H. Obama of Illinois, who received 12,703 votes (27.8 percent). In 2012, Mitt Romney polled 34,988 votes (72 percent) in Bossier Parish (2,275 more ballots than McCain drew in 2008). President Obama won 12,956 (26.6) of the votes in Bossier Parish.

National Guard
The 165th CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion is headquartered in Bossier City. This unit was deployed to Iraq in 2008. Also located in Bossier City is the 156TH Army Band which deployed as part of the 256th Infantry Brigade in 2010 to Iraq.

Education
Bossier Parish School Board operates public schools in the parish.

It is in the service areas of Bossier Parish Community College and Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College.

Notable people

 * William Benton Boggs (1854-1922), first mayor of Plain Dealing (1890) and member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1892 to 1900 for Bossier Parish and the Louisiana State Senate for Bossier and Webster parishes from 1908 to 1916
 * Roy A. Burrell, state representative from District 2 (Caddo and Bossier parishes) since 2004
 * E. S. Dortch, planter and politician and last surviving (1943) Bossier Parish veteran of the Confederate States Army
 * Jack Favor, a rodeo star, was falsely imprisoned in 1967 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for the murders of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Richey.
 * Ryan Gatti, state senator for District 36 since 2016; Bossier City lawyer
 * Booker T, American professional wrestler and promoter.
 * Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; constitutional attorney in Benton
 * Jerry Miculek, American professional speed and competition shooter known for his 20 world records; resides in Princeton