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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Union Parish, Louisiana
Union Parish (French: Paroisse de l'Union) is a parish located in the north central section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,107. The parish seat is Farmerville. The parish was created on March 13, 1839, from a section of Ouachita Parish. Its boundaries have changed four times since then (in 1845, 1846, 1867, and 1873, respectively).

Union Parish is part of the Monroe, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 905 square miles (2,340 km), of which 877 square miles (2,270 km) is land and 28 square miles (73 km) (3.1%) is water.

Geographically north central Louisiana, Union Parish more closely resembles Lincoln Parish, to which Union is deeply tied culturally, politically, and educationally. Union Parish, along with Lincoln Parish to the southwest and Union County, Arkansas to the north, form the eastern boundary of the Ark-La-Tex region.

Major highways

Adjacent parishes and counties

National protected areas

Communities

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18401,838—
18508,203346.3%
186010,38926.6%
187011,68512.5%
188013,52615.8%
189017,30427.9%
190018,5207.0%
191020,45110.4%
192019,621−4.1%
193020,7315.7%
194020,9431.0%
195019,141−8.6%
196017,624−7.9%
197018,4474.7%
198021,16714.7%
199020,690−2.3%
200022,80310.2%
201022,721−0.4%
202021,107−7.1%
U.S. Decennial Census
1790-1960 1900-1990
1990-2000 2010
Union Parish racial composition as of 2020
Race Number Percentage
White (non-Hispanic) 14,289 67.7%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 4,980 23.59%
Native American 59 0.28%
Asian 38 0.18%
Pacific Islander 6 0.03%
Other/Mixed 600 2.84%
Hispanic or Latino 1,135 5.38%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 21,107 people, 7,582 households, and 4,899 families residing in the parish.

Politics

Located in far northern Louisiana next to the Arkansas state line, Union Parish is heavily Republican in most competitive elections, particularly at the presidential level, last voting for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 when Adlai Stevenson received 52% of the vote. In the most recent election in 2020, incumbent President Donald Trump received 8,407 votes (75.1 percent) of the parish total to 2,654 (23.7 percent) for former Vice President Joe Biden.

United States presidential election results for Union Parish, Louisiana
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 8,407 75.06% 2,654 23.69% 140 1.25%
2016 7,972 73.18% 2,691 24.70% 231 2.12%
2012 7,561 70.23% 3,075 28.56% 130 1.21%
2008 7,619 70.10% 3,103 28.55% 146 1.34%
2004 7,457 69.57% 3,089 28.82% 172 1.60%
2000 5,772 61.78% 3,205 34.30% 366 3.92%
1996 4,418 46.30% 4,260 44.64% 865 9.06%
1992 4,434 44.04% 4,005 39.78% 1,630 16.19%
1988 5,900 62.97% 3,210 34.26% 259 2.76%
1984 6,585 67.73% 2,916 29.99% 222 2.28%
1980 5,130 55.77% 3,841 41.76% 227 2.47%
1976 4,139 52.36% 3,600 45.54% 166 2.10%
1972 4,322 70.20% 1,465 23.79% 370 6.01%
1968 1,113 16.50% 1,336 19.80% 4,297 63.70%
1964 4,534 79.70% 1,155 20.30% 0 0.00%
1960 2,017 49.64% 1,034 25.45% 1,012 24.91%
1956 1,384 40.49% 878 25.69% 1,156 33.82%
1952 1,894 47.96% 2,055 52.04% 0 0.00%
1948 259 9.07% 724 25.35% 1,873 65.58%
1944 803 31.27% 1,765 68.73% 0 0.00%
1940 371 11.55% 2,842 88.45% 0 0.00%
1936 272 13.27% 1,778 86.73% 0 0.00%
1932 58 2.48% 2,285 97.52% 0 0.00%
1928 422 27.97% 1,085 71.90% 2 0.13%
1924 7 0.79% 875 99.09% 1 0.11%
1920 98 7.43% 1,221 92.57% 0 0.00%
1916 22 1.95% 1,106 97.96% 1 0.09%
1912 11 1.39% 696 87.66% 87 10.96%

School

Residents are assigned to Union Parish Public Schools.

Law enforcement

Union Parish Sheriff's Office
AbbreviationUPSO
MottoService Before Self
Agency overview
Formed1839
Jurisdictional structure
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersFarmerville, Louisiana
Agency executive
Website
http://www.unionsheriff.com/

The Union Parish Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency of Union Parish, Louisiana. It is headquartered in Farmerville. The current Sheriff of Union Parish is Dusty Gates, who was first sworn as the sheriff following long time Sheriff Bob Buckley's death in September 2013.

Border monument

In 1931, a monument was erected at the Union Parish border with Union County, Arkansas. In 1975, State Representative Louise B. Johnson passed a law to refurbish the monument. The completed restoration was unveiled in 2009.

Notable people

Two Louisiana governors came from the Shiloh Community in Union Parish:

Two Arkansas governors were natives of Union Parish:

Other Union Parish residents have included:

See also

Sources

Many facts concerning events in early Union Parish history come from the conveyance, probate, and lawsuit records on file in the Union Parish courthouse, as well as records of the United States Land Offices available in the National Archives. Other sources include:

1) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Spanish Poste d’Ouachita: The Ouachita Valley in Colonial Louisiana 1783–1804, and Early American Statehood, 1804–1820, Williams Genealogical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1995.

2) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Oe A – K, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1996.

3) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Two L – O, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1997.

4) Williams, Max Harrison, Union Parish (Louisiana) Historical Records: Police Jury Minutes, 1839–1846, D’Arbonne Research and Publishing Co., Farmerville, LA, 1993.