Richland Parish 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 ...

located in the North Louisiana Delta Country in 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-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, known for its fertile, flat farmland, cane brakes, and open spaces. The name Richland was chosen due to the rich production from farming. The parish seat and largest community is Rayville.

History

The parish was officially created on September 29, 1868.

Rayville, Louisiana Rayville is a town in and the parish seat of Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is 69 percent African American, was 4,234 at the 2000 census, but it had declined by nearly 13 percent in 2010 to 3,695. ...

, the parish seat, was named for John Ray, a politician from Monroe with large land holdings in present-day Rayville. Richland Parish is home to the first public parish library in the State of Louisiana, the Rhymes Memorial Library. The library was built in 1925 by the Lambda Kappa Club of Rayville. R.R. Rhymes donated the original building in memory of his wife, Nonnie Roark Rhymes.

Geography

Bayou Macon flows through the western areas of Richland. Other tributaries in the parish include Crew Lake, and the Lafourche Diversion Canal are located in the western portion of the parish.

Boeuf River The Boeuf River () is a tributary of the Ouachita River in the U.S. states of Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the e ...

flows from the northern end to the southern end in the center of the parish.

Adjacent parishes

* Morehouse Parish (north) * West Carroll Parish (northeast) * Madison Parish (east) * Franklin Parish (south) * Caldwell Parish (southwest) *

Ouachita Parish Ouachita Parish (French: ''Paroisse d'Ouachita'') is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,368. The parish seat is Monroe. The parish was formed in 1807. Ouachita Parish i ...

(west)

Parks and wildlife management areas

* Poverty Point Reservoir State Park * Russell Sage Wildlife Management Area
Floy Ward McElroy Wildlife Management Area

Transportation

Demographics

2020 census

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 20,043 people, 7,459 households, and 4,972 families residing in the parish.

Education

Public schools

* Delhi Elementary * Delhi Junior High * Delhi High School * Holli Ridge Elementary * Mangham Elementary * Mangham Junior High * Mangham High School * Rayville Elementary * Rayville Junior High * Rayville, High School * Start Elementary

Private schools

* Riverfield Academy, K-12

Charter schools

* Delhi Charter, K-12

Community and technical colleges

* Louisiana Delta Community College, (with campus locations in neighboring Tallulah, Winnsboro, Lake Providence, Bastrop, Monroe, and West Monroe.)

Regional universities

University of Louisiana at Monroe The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Cen ...

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research acti ...

, (Ruston) *

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Herita ...

, (Grambling)

Communities

Towns

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

* Rayville (parish seat and largest municipality)

Village

* Mangham

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated place

* Start

Unincorporated communities

* Alto *

Archibald Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements '' erchan'' (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious") and ''bald'' meaning "bold". Medieval forms include Old High German and Anglo-Saxon . Erkanbald, bishop of ...

* Bardel * Bee Bayou * Buckner * Charlieville * Crew Lake * Dehlco * Dunn * Four Forks * Gilleyville * Girard * Holly Ridge * Jonesburg * Mitchiner *

New Light The terms Old Lights and New Lights (among others) are used in Protestant Christian circles to distinguish between two groups who were initially the same, but have come to a disagreement. These terms originated in the early 18th century from a spl ...

Rhymes A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

* Sacksonia * Warden

Government

Notable people

* Luke Letlow, from Start, elected Member of Congress in The United States House of Representatives. *

Julia Letlow Julia Janelle Letlow (née Barnhill; born March 16, 1981) is an American politician and academic administrator serving as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 5th congressional district since 2021. Letlow is the first Republican woman to repr ...

, from Start, elected Member of Congress in the United States House of Representatives. * Ralph Abraham, from Alto, elected Member of Congress in The

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. *

Harry W. Addison Harry Wayne Addison (September 8, 1920 – August 24, 2003) was a writer from the American south and a humorist whose works painted vivid portraits of his experiences growing up as a poor boy in Depression-era rural Louisiana. While he never ...

was a Southern author and humorist who resided in Rayville from 1945 to 1957. * Jamar Adcock, a politician and banker in Monroe, born in Richland Parish * Benny Gay Christian, state representative for Richland Parish, 1964 to 1974. * Terry Doughty, is a federally appointed judge for the Western District of Louisiana. * George B. Franklin, Jr., was a prominent planter, philanthropist, and conservationist. *

Elvin Hayes Elvin Ernest Hayes (born November 17, 1945), nicknamed "the Big E", is an American former professional basketball player and radio analyst for his alma-mater Houston Cougars. He is a member of the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams, and a ...

NBA Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and prese ...

basketball player, born in Rayville * Arlene Howell, Miss Louisiana USA 1958, Miss USA 1958 * Fred W. Jones, Jr., city, district, and state court judge, born in Rayville; resided in Ruston, Louisiana * Ralph E. King, Winnsboro physician who represented Richland Parish in the Louisiana State Senate from 1944 to 1952 and again from 1956 to 1960 * William L. Kirk, of Rayville was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Air Forces in Europe/Commander, Allied Air Forces Central Europe. *

Ernie Ladd Ernest Ladd (November 28, 1938 – March 10, 2007), nicknamed "The Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball sc ...

, a football player/professional wrestler, born in Rayville *

Moses J. Liddell Moses J. Liddell (1845 – 1891) was born in Louisiana and appointed Justice of the Territorial Montana Supreme Court, by President Grover Cleveland, serving from 1888 to 1889. Early life Moses J. Liddell was born to the wealthy plantation owner ...

was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as a judge for the Supreme Court of the

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

. * Wiley Person Mangham, an American publisher and editor. He is the namesake for the town of

Mangham, Louisiana Mangham is a village in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population was 672 at the 2010 census. Mangham was established in 1890. It is named for Wiley P. Mangham, the publisher of the ''Richland Beacon-News'' ...

* Charles McConnell, politician in Springhill, Louisiana; a native of Richland Parish * Keith Munyan, Jr., commercial photographer in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

musician, born in

, and raised in Start * Darryl Riser, editor of the Delhi Dispatch and Richland Beacon-News and, formerly, the Richland Journal * Robert Max Ross, was a Republican politician and activist who qualified to run for Governor, U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House, for the purpose of advancing the two-party system in Louisiana, at a time it did not exist. * Francis C. Thompson served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1975 until 2008; since in the Louisiana State Senate File:Tim McGraw.jpg,

, a famous country musician. File:Ralph Abraham official congressional photo.jpg, Ralph Abraham, U.S. House of Representatives. File:Elvin Hayes 1975.jpeg,

, NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. File:Wiley Person Mangham2.jpg, Wiley Person Mangham, American Publisher and Editor.

Gallery

Image:Former Rayville High School, LA IMG 0176.JPG, Former Rayville High School, operated by the Richland Parish School Board and originally designed by the Shreveport architect Edward F. Neild, was renovated into an apartment complex Image:Holly Ridge High School, Holly Ridge, LA IMG 0178.JPG, Holly Ridge High School in Holly Ridge in rural Richland Parish Image:Veterans Memorial, Mangham, LA IMG 1290.JPG, Veteran's Memorial in Mangham Image:Rhymes Memorial Library, Rayville, LA IMG 0167.JPG, Rhymes Memorial Library in Rayville was the first parish wide public library in Louisiana. Image:Poverty Point Reservoir (2013) IMG 7439.JPG, Poverty Point Reservoir in Delhi. Image:Start, LA, Baptist Church IMG 0141.JPG, Start Baptist Church Image:Richland Parish Courthouse, Rayville, LA IMG 0153.JPG, Richland Parish Courthouse, in Rayville Image:Alto_Presbyterian_Church.jpg, Alto Presbyterian Church, built in 1873 Image:Richland Parish, LA, Detention Center IMG 0350.JPG, Richland Parish Detention Center near Alto, Louisiana Image:First Baptist Church, Delhi, LA IMG 0189.JPG, First Baptist Church in Delhi Image:Northeast Louisiana Veteran's Cemetery.jpg, Northeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery

Politics

References

External links

Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce

Richland Parish Assessor's Office
{{coord, 32.42, -91.76, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-LA_source:UScensus1990 Louisiana parishes 1868 establishments in Louisiana Populated places established in 1868