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35-706: West Monroe is the second largest city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana , United States. It is situated on the Ouachita River , across from the neighboring city of Monroe . The two cities are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana. Its population was 13,065 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area . Originally laid out in 1837 as Byron by John Campbell at

70-508: A river port and rail depot. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 8.0 square miles (20.6 km), of which 7.7 square miles (20.0 km) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.6 km) (3.14%) is water. West Monroe is a separate municipality from Monroe . As of the 2020 United States census , there were 13,103 people, 5,616 households, and 2,636 families residing in

105-470: A small town atmosphere and yet ... many of the amenities and features of a [larger] city." 1022nd Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in West Monroe. West Monroe shares the radio market with Monroe Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Ouachita Parish ( French : Paroisse d'Ouachita ) is a parish located in the northern part of

140-771: A town developing by 1805, two years after the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase from France. This was the vast former French territory (France had reacquired it from Spain for a brief period) west of the Mississippi and outside the Southwest and California, which were still Spanish territory. In 1819 the Americans renamed Fort Miro as the Ouachita Post. A year or so later, they changed

175-696: Is also the home of the University of Louisiana at Monroe . A documentary entitled The Gift of the Ouachita by filmmaker George C. Brian (1919–2007), head of the Division of Theater and Drama at the University of Louisiana at Monroe is a history of Monroe as the "gift of the Ouachita River". 1022nd Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade

210-520: Is little evidence of domesticated or cultivated plants until the end of the Coles Creek period. Acorns are a dominant food source, supplemented with persimmons, palmetto, and some starchy seeds such as maygrass . Coles Creek populations may have loosely "managed" certain plant resources in order to promote a better or more consistent food supply. Maize is found in very limited quantities, but by 1000-1200 CE had begun to increase, although nowhere near

245-668: Is located in West Monroe, Louisiana . 528th Engineer Battalion (To the Very End) also part of the 225th Engineer Brigade is headquartered in Monroe. 32°29′N 92°10′W  /  32.48°N 92.16°W  / 32.48; -92.16 Coles Creek culture The Coles Creek culture is an indigenous development of the Lower Mississippi Valley that took place between the terminal Woodland period and

280-487: Is located on private land and not available for viewing. The parish was named after the Ouachita River , which flows through southern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana, and the Ouachita tribe who lived along it. Beginning about 1720, French settlers arrived in what became organized as modern Ouachita Parish. Colonists developed a plantation on Bayou DeSiard that used African slave labor. The Natchez Indians destroyed

315-578: Is water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 160,368 people, 57,835 households, and 34,816 families residing in the parish. The top employers in the parish, according to the North Louisiana Economic Partnership, are: The Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office (OPSO) is the primary law enforcement agency of Ouachita Parish. It falls under the authority of the Sheriff , who is the chief law enforcement officer of

350-758: The Seven Years' War , in 1763 France ceded its territories in North America east of the Mississippi River to the victor Great Britain. Spain took over French territories west of the Mississippi, including nominally in Louisiana. In 1769, Alejandro O'Reilly , the first Spanish governor to rule successfully in West Louisiana, claimed Ouachita Parish for Spain. A census of the parish that year recorded 110 white people. In 1769 Spain abolished

385-455: The U.S. state of Louisiana . As of the 2020 census , the population was 160,368. The parish seat and largest city is Monroe . The parish was formed in 1807. Ouachita Parish is part of the Monroe, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area . Located here is Watson Brake , the oldest indigenous earthwork mound complex in North America. It was built around 3500 BCE, making it older than

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420-547: The Ancient Egyptian pyramids or Britain's Stonehenge . It is on privately owned land and not available for public viewing. Ouachita Parish was the home to many succeeding Native American groups in the thousands of years before Europeans colonized the area. Peoples of the Marksville culture , Troyville culture , Coles Creek culture and Plaquemine culture built villages and earthwork mound sites throughout

455-620: The Deep South of the cotton plantation districts. They traveled overland or were shipped in the coastwise trade to Gulf ports. Following the Reconstruction era , as white Democrats regained control of the state government, they increasingly worked to re-establish dominance over the freedmen in Ouachita Parish. Elections were often won by intimidation and fraud, and they worked to establish white supremacy . Particularly in

490-556: The Indian slave trade and Indian slavery in its colonies. Even in the 19th century, after the United States acquired this territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, some mixed-race American slaves were able to win freedom suits by proving Indian ancestry in their maternal line; under most southern state slave laws, children were born into the status of the mother. Thus a mixed-race child of an Indian mother or grandmother

525-655: The Ouachita plantations during the Natchez Revolt of 1729–1731, and the French did not return. Beginning in the 1750s, Choctaw Indians began hunting in northern Louisiana, including the Ouachita country, expanding from their traditional territory in what is now Mississippi. At the time, only a few French families moved north into this area from the Opelousas Post on the Red River . Following its defeat in

560-503: The South. Among the victims was George Bolden, an illiterate black man "accused of writing a lewd note to a white woman". Before he went to trial, he was lynched near Monroe on April 30, 1919. In 1883, the first railroad bridge across the Ouachita River was built, improving connections for the town with other markets. In 1916, the Monroe natural gas field was discovered. The field stretched more than 500 square miles (1,000 km ) and

595-547: The area. He was tasked with organizing the settlers in the Ouachita River Valley, while keeping out Americans and establishing good relations for trade with the Native Americans. Filhio served as commandant of Poste d'Ouachita until 1800, when he retired. He continued to live on his plantation here. Other settlers and merchants were attracted to the trading post, which became known as Fort Miro, with

630-484: The area. Notable examples include the Filhiol Mound Site , located on a natural levee of the Ouachita River. The oldest and most significant is Watson Brake , the most ancient mound complex in North America, dated to 5400 BP (before present), or about 3500 BCE . Its dating changed archeologists' understanding of the antiquity of mounds in North America and what types of cultures constructed them. This site

665-648: The city. The current mayor is Staci Albritton Mitchell, who has served since 2018. A 2013 "Community Impressions" report complimented the green spaces, including the Kiroli and Restoration parks, and Antique Alley as important assets to the West Monroe community. According to long-term Mayor Dave Norris , the study confirms "the value of many of the projects we've focused on to enhance quality of life." The report identifies situations in need of improvement, many of which have already been addressed, including insufficient or inaccurate signage to area attractions, brown water and

700-469: The foot of the ferry landing to Monroe, the town floundered and Campbell went bankrupt. The area was bought by Christopher Dabbs, a doctor from Virginia who submitted the plans for Cotton Port in 1854; it was officially recognized in 1859. It too languished until the arrival of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway and the construction of the bridge over the Ouachita River. Cotton Port boomed as

735-681: The interior Mississippi Valley, and Coastal Coles Creek, being found along the Gulf coast roughly south of the latitude of modern Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Although earlier cultures built mounds mainly as a part of mortuary customs, by the Coles Creek period these mounds took on a newer shape and function. Instead of being primarily for burial, mounds were constructed to support temples and other civic structures. Pyramidal mounds with flat tops and ramps were constructed, usually over successive years and with many layers. A temple or other structures, usually of wattle and daub construction, would be built on

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770-410: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, lynchings mostly of black men by white mobs in Ouachita and across the South were a form of racial terror by which the whites enforced their dominance. A 2015 study of lynchings found that from 1877 to 1950, a total of 38 people were lynched in Ouachita Parish. This was the third-highest total in the state, and the fifth-highest total of lynchings of any county in

805-498: The later Plaquemine culture period. The period is marked by the increased use of flat-topped platform mounds arranged around central plazas , more complex political institutions, and a subsistence strategy still grounded in the Eastern Agricultural Complex and hunting rather than on the maize plant as would happen in the succeeding Plaquemine Mississippian period. The culture was originally defined by

840-532: The levels it would reach in later Mississippian culture times. The bow and arrow was introduced in this period, although the atlatl continued to be used. Pottery styles changed during this period, as people began to create more durable wares with more diversified uses. Wet clay was tempered with particles of dry clay to prevent cracking during firing. Most pots were decorated only on the upper half, usually with designs of incised lines or impressed tool marks. Colors ranged from tan, black, brown and gray, although

875-481: The need to renovate certain wells, limited shopping opportunities for clothing, traffic problems on Thomas Road, and the failure to promote the popular phenomenon created from the West Monroe-based A&;E reality television series , Duck Dynasty . The consultants declared West Monroe and the general area west of the Ouachita River overall as "a clean, vibrant, growing friendly area ... [with]

910-587: The parish. Since the formation of the Sheriff's Office, six deputies and one Sheriff have been killed in the line of duty, the most common cause being gunfire. The Ouachita Correctional Center (OCC) was opened in 1963, presently houses a maximum of 1,062 offenders, and employs 124 full time deputies. Ouachita Parish School Board serves areas outside of the City of Monroe with primary and secondary schools. Monroe City School System serves areas within Monroe. Monroe

945-788: The summit of the mound. A typical Coles Creek site plan consisted of at least two, and more commonly three, mounds around a central plaza . This pattern emerged in roughly 800 CE and continued for several hundred years. By late Coles Creek times, the site plans are often enlarged to include up to three more mounds. Sites typical of this period are Mount Nebo, Holly Bluff , Kings Crossing , and Lake Agnes. Many Coles Creek mounds were erected over earlier mortuary mounds, leading researchers to speculate that emerging elites were symbolically and physically appropriating dead ancestors to emphasize and project their own authority. Long-distance trade seems to have been negligible at this time, as exotic goods and trade items are rare in Coles Creek sites. There

980-472: The town's name to Monroe, after the first steamboat to reach it in travel up the Ouachita River. The arrival of the powered paddle wheeler was a landmark event, as it connected the town to much easier travel to and from other markets and stimulated its growth. On March 31, 1807, the Territory of Orleans was divided into 19 sub-districts. The very large Ouachita Parish was one of these original 19; later it

1015-594: The unique decoration on grog -tempered ceramic ware by James A. Ford after his investigations at the Mazique Archeological Site . He had studied both the Mazique and Coles Creek Sites , and almost went with the Mazique culture , but decided on the less historically involved sites name. The Coles Creak area is further subdivided into Coles Creek proper in the northern part of its range throughout

1050-466: Was assigned that year to establish the first European outpost in the area of the Ouachita River Valley, called Poste d'Ouachita. With his wife, a few soldiers and slaves, his small party made the slow, arduous journey by keelboat up the Mississippi, Red, Black and Ouachita rivers to reach this area. In 1785 the European population of the entire Ouachita District (which extended into present-day Arkansas)

1085-461: Was broken up into eight other parishes (Morehouse, Caldwell, Union, Franklin, Tensas, Madison, East Carroll, and West Carroll), as more settlers entered the area and developed towns and plantations. Some brought slaves with them, but many bought slaves at markets. In the early 19th century, a total of one million slaves were forcibly moved through the domestic slave trade from the Upper South to

West Monroe, Louisiana - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-420: Was estimated to have 6,500,000,000,000 cubic feet (180 km ) of natural gas in it. As a result, for a time the city of Monroe was known as the natural gas capital of the world. The new industry generated many jobs. From 1920 to 1930, the population of Ouachita Parish increased by more than 79 percent, to 54,000 people, as migrants arrived for work. (see Demographics section and table.) The town of Sterlington

1155-475: Was incorporated in August 1961, and in 1974 the town of Richwood was incorporated. Ouachita Parish's boundaries have changed 23 times during its history, mostly due to the formation of other parishes in the 19th century. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the parish has a total area of 632 square miles (1,640 km ), of which 610 square miles (1,600 km ) is land and 21 square miles (54 km ) (3.4%)

1190-612: Was legally free in former Spanish territory west of the Mississippi River, such as Louisiana, Arkansas or Missouri, as the Indians had been free people since 1769. In 1783, Don Juan Filhiol was among Frenchmen who began to work for the Spanish colonial government in Louisiana. (He was born Jean-Baptiste Filhiol (1740) in Eymet, France (near Bordeaux ), to French Calvinists François Filhiol and Anne Marie Teyssonnière, cloth merchants.) He

1225-550: Was only 207. Originally based in Arkansas, Filhiol surveyed his grant and settled in 1785 at Prairie des Canots (included within the present-day city of Monroe). He gradually organized settlers, including trying to train some in military skills. He built Fort Miro on his land to provide protection for settlers from the Indians. At the same time, he worked to establish trade with the Chickasaw people and other Native Americans of

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