Madisonville, Louisiana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Madisonville is a town in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 677 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Assorted facts
4 Demographics
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Madisonville is located at 30°24′26″N, 90°9′42″W (30.407179, -90.161716)^GR1. Madisonville is on the banks of the Tchefuncte River, near where the river enters Lake Pontchartrain.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.3 km² (2.4 mi²), all land.

[edit] History

Cannon in front of Madisonville Town Hall

Madisonville was founded in 1800 as the town of Cocquille at the site of the Native American village of Chiconcte. In 1810 it was renamed in honor of President of the United States James Madison.

It was an important port providing bricks and other products of the towns along the Tchefuncte to New Orleans in the decades before the American Civil War. After the Union capture of New Orleans, this area remained under nominal Confederate control, and the cut off of trade with New Orleans across "enemy lines" was devastating to the local economy, which did not recover for decades after the peace.

The opening of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and associated highways gradually brought Madisonville into the sphere of Greater New Orleans in the late 20th century.

Much of the town flooded with the Lake Pontchartrain storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

[edit] Assorted facts

The Madisonville Lighthouse was built in 1838 and is on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The land route to the lighthouse was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and it has since been accessible only by boat.

The town also hosts the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.

Madisonville hosts a wooden boat festival on the last weekend of each September.

John N. Kennedy, the current Louisiana State Treasurer is a resident of Madisonville.

The ZIP code is 70447.

[edit] Demographics

Houses in Madisonville

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 677 people, 302 households, and 186 families residing in the town. The population density was 107.1/km² (277.0/mi²). There were 346 housing units at an average density of 54.8/km² (141.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 85.67% White, 10.04% African American, 0.74% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 1.77% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.51% of the population.

There were 302 households out of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.4% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.81.

In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $50,625, and the median income for a family was $57,083. Males had a median income of $41,042 versus $19,375 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,114. About 4.5% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 17.8% of those age 65 or over.