St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana

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Saint John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana
Map
Location in the state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	1807
Seat	Edgard
Largest city	LaPlace
Area - Total - Land - Water	348 sq mi (901 km²) 219 sq mi (567 km²) 129 sq mi (334 km²), 37.07%
Population - (2000) - Density	43,044 197/sq mi (76/km²)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website: www.sjbparish.com
Named for: Saint John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist Parish (French: Paroisse de Saint-Jean-Baptiste) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. In 2000, its population was 43,044. The parish seat is Edgard, an unincorporated area.

1 Geography
- 1.1 Major highways
- 1.2 Adjacent parishes
2 Demographics
3 History
4 Communities
5 Education
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Geography

The parish has a total area of 348 square miles (901 km²), of which, 219 square miles (567 km²) of it is land and 129 square miles (334 km²) of it (37.07%) is water.

St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana is located on the Mississippi River approximately 130 miles (210 km) upriver from the Gulf of Mexico and 30 miles (48 km) upriver from the City of New Orleans. The area, known as the River Region, has an abundance of natural resources and a mild "Sunbelt" climate. The average monthly temperature in New Orleans ranges from 55.1 in January to 83.7 in July, and rainfall averages 53.2 per year with monthly averages running from 2.52 in October to 7.17 in July. The New Orleans/River Region contains a good supply of raw materials, which has helped Louisiana maintain a high rank in the United States in the production of natural gas, petroleum, sulphur, salt, and fur pelts. High silica sands, lime, clays, timber, seafood, and various agricultural products are also produced in abundance.

St. John the Baptist Parish is bisected by the Mississippi River. Though the River actually separates the Parish into northern and southern parts, the former is still referred to as the "east bank" and the latter as the "west bank". The Mississippi provides an important transportation corridor which supports the heavy industry located in the area.

St. John the Baptist Parish is bordered by St. Charles Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to the east, Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas to the north, Lafourche Parish and Lake Des Allemands to the south, and St. James Parish to the west. It is one of four parishes which comprise the "River Parishes". This section of the state, also consisting of St. James, Ascension and St. Charles Parishes, makes up the area along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All of these parishes are home to at least one major chemical and/or petroleum processing facility, the primary sources of employment in the region.

Geography/History

St. John the Baptist Parish contains approximately 239 square miles (620 km²) of land area, a large percentage of which consists of either open water or wetlands. The wetlands are currently protected by federal law and development is limited to what is permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and/or the Federal Wildlife and Fisheries Department.

Higher ground in the Parish is found in an alluvial plane which generally borders the Mississippi River on both sides. Soil deposits from the Mississippi's annual flooding created a rich and fertile area which has historically been intensively farmed (sugar cane, soybeans, feed corn, and occasional cotton). This fact, and the natural transportation corridor supplied by the river, resulted in the creation of numerous farms and plantations along the lower Mississippi Valley.

Many of these plantations were merely large tracts of land with modest or average sized homes and outbuildings found on the higher ground. Several, however, were improved with palatial mansions. Three of the larger homes have survived in St. John Parish. They are Whitney and Evergreen on the west bank and San Francisco Plantations on the east bank. Only San Francisco is currently open to the public for tours. Whitney is currently targeted for renovation while Hope and Evergreen Plantations are privately owned and occupied.

The early settlers in the area received land grants from the Spanish or French Governments, depending upon which country owned the territory at the time of application. These grants generally included some frontage on the river for transportation of goods to and from New Orleans and world markets. The remaining property extended away from the river into the wetlands. The higher ground along the banks was used to grow corps, while the wetlands were valued for their abundant timber, hunting and fishing. In any case, development in the River Parishes was limited for years to those areas which were high and less prone to flooding. Until the existing levees and pump systems were built, however, few places were truly safe from high water. Even today, most of the parish is considered a flood hazard area (as per FEMA Flood Maps).

[edit] Major highways

East Bank - The primary artery on the east bank of St. John Parish is Airline Highway (U.S. Highway 61). This five lane, asphalt paved road, was once the predominant route linking Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Though it is still heavily traveled, much of the New Orleans-Baton Rouge traffic has been diverted to Interstate 10, located in the northern part of the parish. Interstate 10, a divided, controlled access highway, has two interchanges in St. John Parish; one at Belle Terre Boulevard and the second at U.S. Highway 51/Interstate 55, both in LaPlace. Both Belle Terre Boulevard and Highway 51 intersect Airline Highway approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of Interstate 10.

Interstate 55, a north-south route leading to Jackson, Mississippi and beyond, intersects Interstate 10 in the northeastern sector of LaPlace. A third Interstate 10 interchange exists just west of the St. John Parish Line near Gramercy (St. James Parish).

River Road, also known as Jefferson Highway or Louisiana Highway 44, is a two-lane, asphalt paved, winding highway which parallels the Mississippi River. Most of the heavy industry in the Parish fronts this road.

West Bank - Most of the development on the west bank lies along Louisiana Highway 18 (the Great River Road), a two lane, asphalt paved highway which parallels the Mississippi River similarly to Highway 44 on the east bank. In addition to Louisiana 18, the west bank has Louisiana Highway 3127 or the River Parishes Highway, which is roughly equivalent to the east bank's Airline Highway in that it follows the Mississippi but is not as winding and populated as River Road. Highway 3127 leads to Donaldsonville, upriver from St. John Parish and home of the "Sunshine Bridge" over the Mississippi River in Ascension Parish. This road has little development on either side and is generally surrounded by wetlands in St. John Parish.

Veterans Memorial Bridge - This bridge originates on the east bank of St. James Parish near Gramercy/Lutcher and has access to I-10 and Airline Highway via Louisiana Highway 641. The foot of the bridge on the west bank is in St. John Parish near Wallace, with a planned tie-in to Louisiana Highway 3127. The opening of this bridge has spurred the development hoped along the west bank of St. John Parish.

Access to the west bank of St. John Parish is also provided by a ferry crossing at Reserve/Edgard and by the Hale Boggs Bridge over the Mississippi in St. Charles Parish.

[edit] Adjacent parishes

Tangipohoa Parish (north)
Lake Pontchartrain (northeast)
St. Charles Parish (southeast)
Lafourche Parish (south)
St. James Parish (west)
Ascension Parish & Livingston Parish (northwest)

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1900	12,330		—
1910	14,338		16.3%
1920	11,896		−17%
1930	14,078		18.3%
1940	14,766		4.9%
1950	14,861		0.6%
1960	18,439		24.1%
1970	23,813		29.1%
1980	31,924		34.1%
1990	39,996		25.3%
2000	43,044		7.6%
Est. 2006	48,537	^[1]	12.8%
St. John the Baptist Parish Census Data^[2]

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 43,044 people, 14,283 households, and 11,312 families residing in the parish. The population density was 197 people per square mile (76/km²). There were 15,532 housing units at an average density of 71 per square mile (27/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 52.58% White, 44.76% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.86% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. 2.86% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 14,283 households out of which 43.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.10% were married couples living together, 18.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.80% were non-families. 17.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.38.

In the parish the population was spread out with 31.20% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 30.20% from 25 to 44, 21.10% from 45 to 64, and 7.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 94.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $39,456, and the median income for a family was $43,925. Males had a median income of $37,293 versus $22,323 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $15,445. About 13.90% of families and 16.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.70% of those under age 18 and 17.80% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

St. John the Baptist Parish was the second permanent settlement in Louisiana^{[citation needed]}. The parish was established in the early 1720s by a group of German colonists. Many families established towns around the Mississippi River in the areas now known as Lucy, Garyville, and Reserve. The area was under the French regime until 1768 when France delivered Louisiana to the Spanish. Around this time period, many Acadians, or "Cajuns", began arriving in south Louisiana due to being exiled from their homes in what is now Nova Scotia. The first Acadian village was established in what is now Wallace. The German and French cultures thrived alongside one another, but French came to be the dominant language.

In these early years, much transportation was done by boat, mainly on the bayous and lakes, but the Mississippi River as well. St. John, with its fertile land being nine feet above sea level proved to be an excellent settlement for farming and agriculture.

As the families of the settlement grew, a need for education grew also. Sometimes a plantation owner would hire a teacher and invite the neighborhood children to attend classes. Private schools taught in the French language were established around 1869. The first high schools at Edgard and Reserve were built in 1909. Children attended the schools by horse drawn buses or by commuter train.

Eight communities comprise the whole of St. John Parish. On the west bank of the river lies the sprawling towns of Lucy, Edgard and Wallace. This area is primarily agricultural. Rows and rows of sugar cane cover the fields. The east bank has LaPlace, Reserve, Lions, Garyville and Mt. Airy, each a thriving, bustling community. Industries follow along the river, including a chemical plant, sugar refinery, grain elevators and an oil refinery.