East Feliciana Parish (french: Paroisse de Feliciana Est, es, Parroquia de East Feliciana) is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. At the 2010 census, the population was 20,267, and 19,531 in 2020. The

parish seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Clinton. Established when Feliciana Parish was divided in 1824, both East and West Feliciana parishes are part of the

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

. They are also considered part of the

Florida Parishes The Florida Parishes ( es, Parroquias de Florida, french: Paroisses de Floride), on the east side of the Mississippi River—an area also known as the Northshore or Northlake region—are eight List of parishes in Louisiana, parishes in the southe ...

, at one time part of Spain's

West Florida West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...

colony.

History

The parish was part of Feliciana Parish, which was founded and named in 1810 by Spaniards who then controlled the territory. The Spanish governor,

Bernardo de Gálvez Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Sp ...

, named it in honor of his wife, Marie Felicité. After the United States annexed this territory, population continued to increase. It had been developed for sugar cane plantations and business was thriving. In 1824, the state legislature divided the parish into East Feliciana Parish and

West Feliciana Parish West Feliciana Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest''; Spanish: ''Parroquia de West Feliciana'') is a civil parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,625, and 15,310 at the 2020 census. ...

, so that residents would have easier access to their parish seats. The Louisiana State Insane Asylum was the first state institution in the parish, established near the town of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

in 1847. It was greatly enlarged and improved under the administration of Dr. John Welch Jones, who was appointed as superintendent in 1874, during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

. The bi-racial legislators in power at the time made commitments to public education and state welfare institutions. The facility was later called

East Louisiana State Hospital The East Louisiana State Hospital is a state-operated mental hospital located on Louisiana Highway 10, a short distance east of the town of Jackson, Louisiana in East Feliciana Parish. History The hospital was created by the Louisiana Legislatur ...

. The Margaret Dixon Correctional Institute is located in Jackson, as well. It opened in 1976 and is named for the crusading

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edit ...

of the ''

Baton Rouge Morning Advocate ''The Advocate'' is Louisiana's largest daily newspaper. Based in Baton Rouge, it serves the southern portion of the state. Separate editions for New Orleans, '' The Times-Picayune The New Orleans Advocate'', and for Acadiana, ''The Acadiana ...

'' (now called ''The Advocate''). She had argued for the decentralization of the massive

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, in neighboring

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

Louisiana Highway 10 Louisiana Highway 10 (LA 10) is a state highway located in southern Louisiana. It runs in an east–west direction from U.S. Highway 171 (US 171) south of Leesville to the Mississippi state line east of Bogalusa. The route connects a ...

Louisiana Highway 19 Louisiana Highway 19 (LA 19) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs in a north–south direction from U.S. Highway 61 (US 61) in Baton Rouge to the Mississippi state line north of Norwood. The route connects a ...

Louisiana Highway 63 * Louisiana 67

Louisiana Highway 67 Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is border ...

Louisiana Highway 68 Louisiana Highway 68 (LA 68) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs in a north–south direction from U.S. Route 61 in Louisiana, U.S. Highway 61 (US 61) north of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Port Hudson to Louisiana H ...

Louisiana Highway 69

Adjacent parishes and counties

* Wilkinson County,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

(northwest) *

Amite County Amite County is a county located in the state of Mississippi on its southern border with Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,720. Its county seat is Liberty. The county is named after the Amite River, which runs through the ...

(northeast) * St. Helena Parish (east) *

East Baton Rouge Parish East Baton Rouge Parish (french: Paroisse de Bâton Rouge Est) is the most populous parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 U.S. census, its population was 440,171, and 456,781 at the 2020 census. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, ...

(south) *

(west)

Communities

Towns

* Clinton (parish seat) *

(largest municipality) * Slaughter

Villages

* Norwood * Wilson

Unincorporated communities

* Bluff Creek *

Ethel Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name. Etymology and historic usage The word means ''æthel'' "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...

* Gurley

Demographics

At the 2019

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...

, there were 19,371 people living in the parish, down from 20,267 at the

2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

. The 2019 census-estimated population comprised 6,959 households living in 8,487 housing units spread throughout the parish. There were 1,595 businesses operating in East Feliciana. As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 19,539 people, 6,959 households, and 4,777 families residing in the parish. In 2010, the racial and ethnic makeup of the parish was the following: 53.2% were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 44.9% Black and African American, 0.3%

American Indian and Alaska Native Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States (Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United States are ...

, 0.3%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.2% of some other race and 1.1% of two or more races; 1.0% were Hispanic or Latin American of any race. At the 2019 census-estimates, 54.5% were non-Hispanic white, 43.6% Black and African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% some other race, and 0.9% multiracial. Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 1.7% of the total population. Of the 6,959 households in East Feliciana Parish, 4.8% were aged 5 and under, 81.8% 18 and older, and 17.1% 65 and older. The median age was 42.9. Approximately 40% of the population was employed in the parish, and the home-ownership rate was 80.5%. The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $139,300, and median gross rent was $647. Residents had a median household income of $51,803; males earned a median income of $61,105 versus $32,243 for females. At the

2000 United States census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...

, the median household income was $31,631, and the median family income was $37,278. Males had a median income of $31,804 versus $20,243 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the parish was $15,428. An estimated 23.3% of the parish lived at or below the poverty line in 2019, up from 23% at the 2000 U.S. census.

Education

East Feliciana Parish School Board East Feliciana Public Schools is a school district headquartered in Clinton, Louisiana, United States. The district serves students in East Feliciana Parish. School uniforms The district requires all students to wear school uniforms. Schools ...

operates public schools in the parish. Elementary schools include Jackson Elementary School, Slaughter Elementary School, and Clinton Elementary School. Upper public schools include East Feliciana Middle and High school. Some students in the parish attend

Wilkinson County Christian Academy Wilkinson County Christian Academy is a private PK3-12 Christian school in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, near Woodville. It was established in 1969 as a segregation academy. History In a 1969 newspaper article, a parent explained that "my kids ...

Wilkinson County, Mississippi Wilkinson County is a county located in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of 2020, its population was 8,587. Its county seat is Woodville. Bordered by the Mississippi River on the west, the county is named for James Wilk ...

. The parish is in the service area of

Baton Rouge Community College Baton Rouge Community College is a public community college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Established on June 28, 1995, the college settled into a permanent location in 1998. The campus consists of six main buildings: Governors Building, Louisia ...

Silliman Institute Silliman Institute is a private coeducational school and former segregation academy located in Clinton, Louisiana. It was founded in 1966; a previous school had operated on the site from 1852 to 1931. The school enrolls students from throughout ...

in Clinton was established in the late 1960s as a directed response to federal courts ordering the desegregation of the East Feliciana public school system.

Government and infrastructure

The East Feliciana Parish

Police Jury In the U.S. state of Louisiana, the typical governing body of the parish is called the Police Jury (French: ''le Jury de Police''). Not every parish is governed by a Police Jury, but 38 of the 64 parishes use this system. The Police Jury is the ...

is the governing body of the

and consists of nine representatives elected by district. East Louisiana State Hospital, currently referred to as Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System is located in

. Its main building is considered to be one of the largest and most significant

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

buildings in Louisiana, it has been placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The institution was one of the first mental hospitals in the South. The

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

operates the

Dixon Correctional Institute Dixon Correctional Institute (DCI) is a prison facility in Jackson, Louisiana. DCI, a facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, is approximately from Baton Rouge.Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

.Dixon Correctional Institute
."

. Retrieved on August 29, 2010.

Notable people

Donna Douglas Donna Douglas (born Doris Ione Smith; September 26, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American actress and singer, known for her role as Elly May Clampett on ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' (1962–1971). Following her acting career, Douglas becam ...

(1932-2015), actress who starred on ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family f ...

''. She is buried in Bluff Creek's Baptist Church cemetery. *

Erick Erickson Erick Woods Erickson (born June 3, 1975) is a conservative American radio host and blogger. He hosts a three-hour weekday talk show on WSB 95.5 FM and 750 AM in Atlanta, which is syndicated to other radio stations around the U.S. He also write ...

, Editor of

RedState ''RedState'' is an American conservative political blog. Prior to 2017, it organized "RedState gatherings", a summer convention for conservative activists and grassroots political activism which featured many prominent public figures in conserv ...

* Thomas Jackson, Sr. (1757-1844), fought in Revolutionary War. * John Welch Jones (1826-1916), medical doctor, Confederate cavalry officer and one-time superintendent of the Louisiana State Insane Asylum *

Junius Wallace Jones Junius Wallace Jones, B. S., (April 3, 1890 – February 14, 1977) was a major general in the United States Air Force. He was the Air Inspector (a precursor to Inspector General) for the Air Force when it was formed in 1947. Early life Jones wa ...

(1890-1977), Major-General, United States Air Force * Lawrence Brooks (1909-2022), the oldest American veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, was born in Norwood. * Tom McVea, former state representative and former member of the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury * Eddie Robinson, legendary football coach at Grambling State University, was born in

, Louisiana. *

Richard Stalder Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

, former secretary of the

from 1992 to 2008; former warden of Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson * E. M. Toler, physician and coroner who served in the Louisiana State Senate for East and West Feliciana parishes from 1944 to 1954 * John D. Travis (1940-2016), state representative for District 62, including his native East Feliciana Parish, 1984 to 2000 *

Kendell Beckwith Kendell Beckwith (born December 2, 1994) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Louisiana State University (LSU). Professional career Coming out of LSU, Beckwith was projected by the majority of NFL draft expert ...

, NFL player, currently plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Attended East Feliciana High School and went on to play for the LSU Tigers before being drafted by Tampa Bay.

References

External links

East Feliciana Parish Police Jury

East Feliciana Tourism

Explore the History and Culture of Southeastern Louisiana, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{authority control Louisiana parishes Baton Rouge metropolitan area 1824 establishments in Louisiana Populated places established in 1824 Louisiana parishes on the Mississippi River