Robert is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Tangipahoa Parish,

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States. It lies east of Hammond, at the intersection of US 190 and LA 445, from which it has a signed exit on Interstate 12. Robert is the largest settlement in Tangipahoa Parish's rural 8th ward. The community, which has 20 streets and one stoplight, was thrust into the international spotlight when the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command was established at the

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

Robert Training and Conference Center to coordinate response to the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill was an environmental disaster off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum in ...

in 2010.

Notable employers

Robert is home to diverse employers: * Regina Coeli Child Development Center oversees Head Start programs in six of Louisiana's

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishe ...

. *

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

has a large distribution center east of Robert on the road (US 190) to Goodbee, Louisiana. * Yogi Bear Jellystone Park is a resort encampment near the Robert (LA 445) interchange on Interstate 12. * Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center, a rehabilitation institution for wayward youths, is physically located within Tangipahoa Parish along its boundary with Saint Tammany Parish east of Robert. * Louisiana Renaissance Festival attracts thousands of tourists who pass through Robert annually in November en route to the festival grounds on LA 1064 (Tangipahoa River Road). * Louisiana State University's Agricultural Experiment Station occupies along LA 1067 (Old Covington Highway) near the west bank of the Tangipahoa River across from Robert.

Political demographics

In elections during the 2000s (decade), Robert demonstrated an unusually homogeneous voting behavior. In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

’s Louisiana vote was 57.40 percent; in Tangipahoa Parish, Obama won a plurality of 39.81 percent; but in Robert (Tangipahoa Parish Precinct 122)

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

beat Obama 45 to 9 (a 5:1 ratio) among 64 votes cast. With comparable pluralities Mike Huckabee carried the state and the parish over

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

on the Republican side; but, in Robert, Huckabee won with a 59.96 percent majority (among 79 votes cast). In the 2008 presidential election, McCain and running-mate Sarah Palin carried Louisiana and Tangipahoa Parish by comparable majorities but trounced Obama and

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in Robert with 87.54 percent.

Bombing range

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

a tract northeast of Robert served as the Hammond Bombing and Gunnery Range. As late as 2009 the 300 property owners in the tract were still under legal obligation to disclose the potential for unexploded ordnance. " sidents cannot do as they wish with their properties . . . uthave a moral obligation to reveal that it was a bombing range during a sale" according to Bruce Harrell CPA.Quoted in Don Ellzey
Property owner stuck in Bombing Range: Corps surveyors search for any explosives
in '' Daily Star'' (Hammond), 2009 October 29, pp. 1A, 8A (Harrell quoted on p. 1A).

Notes

{{authority control Bombing ranges Unincorporated communities in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Louisiana United States home front during World War II