Plain Dealing, Louisiana

Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 893 in 2020. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area.

History
Prior to 1839, the United States government forcibly removed the Caddo Nation of Native Americans—longtime local inhabitants who had first settled the area over 1,000 years before Europeans' 16th-century arrival in mainland North America—from the area of Northern Louisiana that included the parcel that would later become the town of Plain Dealing.

In 1839, George Oglethorpe Gilmer and his son, James Blair Gilmer, bought 5,000 acres of this land—now described as a "vast, unsettled wilderness"—from the United States government, calling a portion of this acreage "Plain Dealing" after the family's Virginia plantation. The "Plain Dealing" name became official when the town was formally chartered on April 24, 1890.

On March 26, 1893, during an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. Two students were shot and killed immediately, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.

Geography
Plain Dealing is 8 mi south of the Arkansas border and 31 mi north of Shreveport.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.1 sqkm, of which 0.01 sqkm, or 0.26%, is water.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Plain Dealing has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Plain Dealing was 114 F on August 10, 1936, while the coldest temperature recorded was -14 F on February 13, 1899. The record high temperature is also the highest temperature ever recorded in Louisiana.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 893 people, 424 households, and 192 families residing in the town.

Education
The community is in the Bossier Parish School District. There is one school in the community, Plain Dealing High School, which covers grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12. Its attendance boundary includes all of Plain Dealing.

White and black students had separate K-12 schools, under educational segregation in the United States. White students went to Plain Dealing High School, then K-12, while black students went to Carrie Martin High School, a K-12 school established in 1952 by its namesake. In 1969 the white and black schools were consolidated into a single school with two campuses, later separated into Plain Dealing Elementary School and Plain Dealing High School. The elementary school was renamed Carrie Martin Elementary School in 2003. In 2017 the district announced that it will merge Martin Elementary into Plain Dealing High, and stop using the former elementary facility.

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

Notable people

 * William Benton Boggs (1854–1922), first mayor of Plain Dealing in 1890; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1892 to 1900, and the Louisiana State Senate from 1908 to 1916
 * Ryan Gatti (born 1974), state senator from Bossier City since 2016; owns a tree farm near Plain Dealing
 * Booker T (born 1965), American professional wrestler and promoter.
 * A. P. Tugwell (1889–1976), born in Plain Dealing; the longest-serving Louisiana state treasurer
 * Joseph David "Joe" Waggonner, Jr. (1918–2007), a former congressman; born in Plain Dealing and interred at Plain Dealing Cemetery.
 * W. E. "Willie" Waggonner (1905–1976), sheriff of Bossier Parish from 1948 until his death in office; brother of Joe Waggonner
 * Greg Stumon (born 1963), retired defensive end, 1987 Canadian Football League defensive player of the year