Blackhawk is a rural community near

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...

in Corcordia Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. It was one of the last rural areas of Louisiana to receive reliable phone service, after

Centennial Wireless Centennial Communications and its subsidiaries (Centennial Wireless and Centennial de Puerto Rico) provided wireless and broadband telecommunications services to wireless telephone subscribers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virg ...

built a cellular tower in 2005. Crops grown at Blackhawk include

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

. In recent years, the Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has worked on strengthening a section of the mainline Mississippi River levee system near Blackhawk.

Population

Blackhawk was a village with a population of 323 residents in the 1890 Census, and 125 in the 1900 census. The population of Blackhawk was 340 in 1910, and was 29 in 1940. As of 2004, 100 households were reported living in the Shaw and Blackhawk area combined.

History

According to the ''Official Register of the United States'', in 1897 the postmaster of the Blackhawk post office in Concordia Parish was A. J. McCearly. Circa 1905, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in nearby Vidalia operated a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in Blackhawk. In 1966, 2.6 miles of road between Blackhawk and Shaw was resurfaced, as part of the Mississippi River Parkway or

Great River Road The Great River Road is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states of the United States. They are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Miss ...

project. In 2017, the Associated Press reported that farmer Matt Frey and his brothers were growing 150 acres of

in Blackhawk.

Levees

On May 2, 1912, the town of Blackhawk was flooded under nine feet of water, after a protection levee broke, letting in waters from Dog Tail crevasse. Residents had sufficient notice to take their belongings and livestock to safety. In 1922, the Blackhawk, Shaw, and Bougiere areas were again heavily flooded, this time by the waters from the Ferriday crevasse. The water was almost twenty feet deep. Other towns affected included Ferriday and Waterproof. In the 1980s, the Fifth Louisiana Levee Board and the United States Army Corps of Engineers worked on the Acme–Blackhawk levee enlargement program.

Telecommunications

In 2005, Blackhawk became one of three small "rural pockets" in Louisiana which finally received reliable phone service, after a cellular phone tower was constructed by

near the Red River levee.

Blackhawk Plantation

In 1972, Blackhawk Plantation was sold to J. C. "Sonny" Gilbert of Sicily Island, reportedly for over $1 million. In 2005, a Moreauville man was charged with theft of livestock from Blackhawk Plantation, after he shot and killed a 13-point buck from his vehicle off of Highway 15 through an eight-foot tall game fence.

References

Unincorporated communities in Concordia Parish, Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Natchez micropolitan area {{authority control