Madison Parish, Louisiana
Parish in Louisiana, United States

Parish in Louisiana
Madison Parish
Parish
Parish of Madison
Paroisse de Madison (French)
Madison Parish Courthouse in Tallulah
Madison Parish Courthouse in Tallulah
Map of Louisiana highlighting Madison ParishMadison Parish
Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana
Coordinates: 32°22′N 91°14′W / 32.37°N 91.24°W / 32.37; -91.24
Country United States
State Louisiana
FoundedJanuary 19, 1838
Named afterJames Madison
SeatTallulah
Largest cityTallulah
Area
 • Total
651 sq mi (1,690 km2)
 • Land624 sq mi (1,620 km2)
 • Water26 sq mi (67 km2)  4.1%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
10,017 Decrease
 • Estimate 
(2024)
9,093[1]
 • Density15/sq mi (5.8/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district5th
Websitemadisonparish.org
Confederate monument in Tallulah at the Madison Parish Courthouse.
Aerial view of Madison Parish, Louisiana.

Madison Parish (French: Paroisse de Madison) is a parish located on the northeastern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana, in the delta lowlands along the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,017.[2] Its parish seat is Tallulah.[3] It was created by the Louisiana legislature on January 19, 1838, from part of Concordia Parish and was organized by 1839.[4] [5] With a history of cotton plantations and pecan farms, the parish economy continues to be primarily agricultural. It has a majority African-American population. For years a ferry connected Delta, Louisiana (and traffic from the parish) to Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Vicksburg Bridge now carries U.S. Route 80 and Interstate 20 across the river into Madison Parish.

History

Prehistory

Madison Parish was the home to many succeeding Native American groups in the thousands of years before European settlement. Peoples of the Marksville culture, Troyville culture, Coles Creek culture and Plaquemine culture built villages and earthwork mound complexes throughout the area. Notable mound centers in the parish include Fitzhugh Mounds and the Raffman site, large Coles Creek–Plaquemine complexes documented by state archaeology guides and peer-reviewed research.[6][7]

Historic tribes which were encountered by European colonists include the Taensa and Natchez peoples, who both spoke the Natchez language.

European settlement to present

The parish is named for former U.S. President James Madison.[8] As was typical of northern areas of Louisiana, and especially along the Mississippi River, it was developed for cotton agriculture on large plantations worked by large groups of enslaved African Americans. In 1932 a local news writer stated, "Madison still has plantations. They have not vanished entirely. Good roads dot the parish and some owners live in Tallulah, using automobiles to supervise their extensive holdings. When extra help is needed, trucks are used to carry the negroes back and forth."[9]

Following the Reconstruction era and during the Jim Crow era, white Democrats across the state violently suppressed black voting, which was for Republican candidates, and civil rights. Twelve blacks were lynched in Madison Parish from 1877 to 1950, most near the turn of the 20th century when social and economic tensions were the highest.[10] In addition, in July 1899 five immigrant Sicilian grocers were lynched by whites in Tallulah, the parish seat, for failing to observe Jim Crow customs of serving whites before blacks and because they were competing with locals with their stores.[11]

During the Vicksburg campaign, several operations occurred in Madison Parish. On June 7, 1863, Union and Confederate forces fought the Battle of Milliken's Bend in the parish; the National Park Service notes the battlefield site has since been lost to changes in the Mississippi River channel.[12] On June 15, 1863, Union forces crossed local bayous and burned the then-parish seat of Richmond after the Battle of Richmond, Louisiana.[13] Two canal projects on the Louisiana side—Grant's Canal at Delta and the Duckport Canal near Duckport—were attempted by Union engineers to bypass Confederate batteries at Vicksburg; a remnant of Grant’s Canal is preserved today as a unit of Vicksburg National Military Park.[14][15]

Civil rights legislation in 1965 enabled more African Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to register and vote in Madison Parish, and they began to elect candidates of their choice to local offices. In 1969 Zelma Wyche was elected as Police Chief of Tallulah. In 1974 Adell Williams was elected as mayor, the first African American to fill this position.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory and airfield near Tallulah (Shirley/Scott Field) hosted early 1920s crop-dusting experiments against the boll weevil; the airfield is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[16][17]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 651 square miles (1,690 km2), of which 624 square miles (1,620 km2) is land and 26 square miles (67 km2) (4.1%) is water.[18]

Major highways

[19]

Adjacent counties and parishes

National protected areas

Communities

Cities

  • Tallulah (parish seat and largest municipality)

Villages

Extinct settlements

Transportation

Vicksburg–Tallulah Regional Airport (KTVR) serves the parish near Mound, with a 5,002-ft (1,525 m) runway and general-aviation services.[23][24] The I-20 Westbound Louisiana Welcome Center at Mound provides traveler services at Exit 182. The welcome center is closed while under construction.[25]

Demographics

Because of limited job opportunities as agriculture has mechanized and the Chicago Lumber Mill closed, the parish population has declined overall by about one-third since its peak in 1980. Numerous African Americans left during the first half of the 20th century in the Great Migration to escape the violence and oppression of Jim Crow; they moved to the North and West. The Census Bureau’s 2024 estimate is 9,093 residents.[26]

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18405,142—
18508,77370.6%
186014,13361.1%
18708,600−39.1%
188013,90661.7%
189014,1351.6%
190012,322−12.8%
191010,676−13.4%
192010,8291.4%
193014,82936.9%
194018,44324.4%
195017,451−5.4%
196016,444−5.8%
197015,065−8.4%
198015,9756.0%
199012,463−22.0%
200013,72810.2%
201012,093−11.9%
202010,017−17.2%
U.S. Decennial Census[27]
1790-1960[28] 1900-1990[29]
1990-2000[30] 2010[31]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 10,017 people, 3,732 households, and 2,443 families residing in the parish. The median age was 38.1 years; 25.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 82.5 males age 18 and over.[32]

Of the 3,732 households, 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them; 30.7% were married-couple households, 20.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 42.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[32]

There were 4,357 housing units, of which 14.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 57.1% were owner-occupied and 42.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.8%.[32]

71.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 28.5% lived in rural areas.[33]

The racial makeup of the parish was 34.7% White, 62.1% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.4% from some other race, and 2.3% from two or more races; Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.0% of the population.[34]

Out of Louisiana's 64 parishes, it is one of six that have an African-American Majority (2020).[35]

Racial and ethnic composition

Madison Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 1980[36] Pop 1990[37] Pop 2000[38] Pop 2010[39] Pop 2020[40] % 1980 % 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 6,353 4,917 5,087 4,396 3,414 39.77% 39.45% 37.06% 36.35% 34.08%
Black or African American alone (NH) 9,293 7,390 8,259 7,357 6,173 58.17% 59.30% 60.16% 60.84% 61.63%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 5 15 18 23 27 0.03% 0.12% 0.13% 0.19% 0.27%
Asian alone (NH) 15 8 21 26 6 0.09% 0.06% 0.15% 0.22% 0.06%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) x [41] x [42] 2 0 5 x x 0.01% 0.00% 0.05%
Other race alone (NH) 16 7 2 8 4 0.10% 0.06% 0.01% 0.07% 0.04%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) x [43] x [44] 51 95 184 x x 0.37% 0.79% 1.84%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 293 126 288 188 204 1.83% 1.01% 2.10% 1.55% 2.04%
Total 15,975 12,463 13,728 12,093 10,017 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

Politics

With its majority-black population, Madison Parish in the 21st century has become a stronghold of support for the Democratic Party. Prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when the state unconstitutionally prevented blacks from voting, the white Madison Parish voters in 1962 supported the Republican nominee Taylor W. O'Hearn for the US Senate; he lost to powerful Democratic incumbent Russell B. Long. O'Hearn polled 58.7 percent among whites in Madison Parish.[45] He later was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from Caddo Parish, also in the northern part of the state.

During the 1970s and 1980s, conservative white voters in Louisiana and other southern states began to shift to supporting Republican presidential candidates, creating a more competitive system than the Solid South. Since the civil rights era, most African Americans in the South have supported Democratic candidates, as the national party supported their drive to exercise constitutional rights as citizens, even though most Southern Democrats remained vehemently opposed to civil rights. In 1988, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts won in Madison Parish, with 2,416 votes (49.2 percent) compared to Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush, who finished in the presidential contest with 2,334 ballots (47.5 percent).[46]

In 2008, the Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois received 3,100 votes (58.5 percent) in Madison Parish to 2,152 (40.6 percent) for the Republican U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona.[47] In 2012, Madison Parish gave President Obama 3,154 votes (60.8 percent) to Mitt Romney's 2,000 ballots (38.6 percent), 152 fewer votes than McCain had received four years earlier.[48]

United States presidential election results for Madison Parish, Louisiana[49]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
№  % №  % №  %
1912 0 0.00% 146 95.42% 7 4.58%
1916 1 0.53% 187 99.47% 0 0.00%
1920 4 1.19% 331 98.81% 0 0.00%
1924 13 4.53% 274 95.47% 0 0.00%
1928 151 32.20% 318 67.80% 0 0.00%
1932 67 10.89% 548 89.11% 0 0.00%
1936 71 6.14% 1,085 93.86% 0 0.00%
1940 182 15.18% 1,017 84.82% 0 0.00%
1944 338 30.67% 764 69.33% 0 0.00%
1948 127 9.30% 197 14.42% 1,042 76.28%
1952 1,253 64.32% 695 35.68% 0 0.00%
1956 461 27.25% 276 16.31% 955 56.44%
1960 629 33.32% 235 12.45% 1,024 54.24%
1964 2,061 83.17% 417 16.83% 0 0.00%
1968 649 11.41% 2,659 46.75% 2,380 41.84%
1972 2,420 49.22% 2,249 45.74% 248 5.04%
1976 2,096 29.41% 4,933 69.21% 99 1.39%
1980 2,531 42.70% 3,264 55.06% 133 2.24%
1984 2,849 48.58% 2,906 49.56% 109 1.86%
1988 2,334 47.53% 2,416 49.20% 161 3.28%
1992 1,702 33.33% 2,773 54.31% 631 12.36%
1996 1,591 31.41% 3,085 60.91% 389 7.68%
2000 2,127 44.85% 2,489 52.48% 127 2.68%
2004 2,291 49.03% 2,334 49.95% 48 1.03%
2008 2,152 40.60% 3,100 58.49% 48 0.91%
2012 2,000 38.56% 3,154 60.81% 33 0.64%
2016 1,927 40.72% 2,744 57.99% 61 1.29%
2020 1,930 41.33% 2,654 56.83% 86 1.84%
2024 1,846 46.24% 2,094 52.45% 52 1.30%

Education

Public schools in Madison Parish are operated by the Madison Parish School Board. There is one private school and one magnet school in the parish.

Corrections

The Madison Parish Sheriff's Office operated Madison Parish Detention Center and the privately operated Louisiana Transitional Center for Women are located in Tallulah.[50][51]

Notable people

References

  1. ^ "Resident Population in Madison Parish, LA (LAMADI5POP)". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (U.S. Census Bureau data). March 14, 2025. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  2. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Madison Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  3. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  4. ^ "Louisiana Counties and Parishes: Madison Parish". Law Library of Louisiana. August 22, 2025. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  5. ^ "Madison Parish". Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  6. ^ "Fitzhugh Mounds". Louisiana Division of Archaeology. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  7. ^ Kidder, Tristram R. (2004). "Plazas as Architecture: An Example from the Raffman Site, Northeast Louisiana". American Antiquity. 69 (3): 514–532. JSTOR 4128404.
  8. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 196. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  9. ^ "Old Record Book Tells Story of Adventure, Romance, Tragedy". The Madison Journal. December 23, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  10. ^ Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County Archived October 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, p. 6, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017
  11. ^ Ken Scambray, " 'Corda e Sapone' (Rope and Soap): how the Italians were lynched in the USA" Archived May 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, L'Italo-Americano, December 13, 2012; accessed May 14, 2018
  12. ^ "Battle of Milliken's Bend, June 7, 1863". Vicksburg National Military Park. June 4, 2025. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  13. ^ "Importance of Richmond, LA, and Battle of Richmond, June 15, 1863". Vicksburg National Military Park. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  14. ^ "Grant's Canal". Vicksburg National Military Park. November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  15. ^ "Duckport Canal, March 31 – May 4, 1863". Vicksburg National Military Park. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  16. ^ "Shirley Field (NRHP nomination excerpt)". National Park Service. 1985. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  17. ^ Cleveland, T. C.; Parencia, C. R. (1976). "History of the USDA Cotton Insects Research Laboratory, Tallulah, Louisiana, 1909–1973". Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America. 22 (4): 403–407. doi:10.1093/besa/22.4.403.
  18. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  19. ^ "Madison Parish — Official Map" (PDF). Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. May 2025. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  20. ^ "Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge". U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  21. ^ "Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Franklin, Madison, and Tensas Parishes, LA". Federal Register. December 11, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  22. ^ "Grant's Canal". Vicksburg National Military Park. November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  23. ^ "Vicksburg–Tallulah Regional Airport — Official site". Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  24. ^ "KTVR — Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport". AirNav. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  25. ^ "I-20 West — Mound Welcome Center". Louisiana Office of Tourism. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  26. ^ "Resident Population in Madison Parish, LA (LAMADI5POP)". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (U.S. Census Bureau data). March 14, 2025. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  27. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  28. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  29. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  30. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  31. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  32. ^ a b c "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  33. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)". United States Census Bureau. 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  34. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  35. ^ "List of U.S. communities with African-American majority populations in 2020". Wikipedia. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  36. ^ "1980 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Louisiana - Table 14 - Persons by Race and Table 15 - Total Persons and Spanish Origin Persons by Type of Spanish Origin and Race (p. 20/12-20/20)" (PDF). United States Census Bureau.
  37. ^ "1990 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Louisiana - Table 6 - Race and Hispanic Origin" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 15-38.
  38. ^ "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Madison Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau.
  39. ^ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Madison Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau.
  40. ^ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Madison Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau.
  41. ^ included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
  42. ^ included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
  43. ^ not an option in the 1980 Census
  44. ^ not an option in the 1990 Census
  45. ^ Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 6, 1962
  46. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 8, 1988". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  47. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 4, 2008". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  48. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  49. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  50. ^ "Madison Parish — Facilities and Programs". Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  51. ^ "Madison — Louisiana Transitional Center for Women". Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madison Parish, Louisiana.

32°22′N 91°14′W / 32.37°N 91.24°W / 32.37; -91.24

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