Springfield

Louisiana Highway 41

Louisiana Highway 41 (LA 41) is a state highway located in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. It runs 23.07 miles (37.13 km) in a north–south direction from the junction of U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) and LA 3081 in Pearl River to LA 21 in Bush.

The route parallels the Louisiana–Mississippi state line, located along the Pearl River. It is essentially the middle link in a route connecting the Slidell area with the Washington Parish city of Bogalusa. Its southern terminus is located just west of an interchange at the convergence of Interstate 59 (I-59) and US 11 in the town of Pearl River. After traveling along the west side of the town's corporate limits, LA 41 heads north through the small unincorporated communities of Hickory, Talisheek, and Bush. LA 21 picks up the trajectory of LA 41 in Bush and continues toward Bogalusa.

LA 41 was designated in the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering from sections of former State Routes 58 and 484. In the late 1960s, a local road around the west side of Pearl River was improved as part of a realignment of LA 41, facilitating access to southbound I-59. The original alignment through town was designated as LA 41 Spur until being decommissioned in 2007.

Vacherie, Louisiana

Vacherie is an unincorporated community in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States. The name of the place derives from the French word for cowshed. Near the community is the WCKW/KSTE-Tower, a guyed mast noted as one of the tallest such structures on Earth.

The best known location in the community is the Oak Alley Plantation. There are several other historic plantations in the area: Laura, Desire, St. Joseph, and Felicity. The last two were combined in 1890.

Vacherie is split into two census-designated places, North Vacherie and South Vacherie, by the United States Census Bureau. As of the 2000 census, North Vacherie had a population of 2,462[2] and South Vacherie had a population of 3,543.[3]

West Monroe, Louisiana

West Monroe is a 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. The mayor is Staci Albritton Mitchell.

Originally laid out in 1837 as Byron by John Campbell at 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, & Texas Railroad and the construction of the bridge over the Ouachita. Cotton Port boomed as a river port and rail depot.[3]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.0 square miles (20.6 km²), of which 7.7 square miles (20.0 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.6 km²) (3.14%) is water.

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport (/ˈʃriːvpɔːrt/ SHREEV-port) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the most populous city in the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area. Shreveport ranks third in population in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge and 126th in the U.S. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, of which it is the parish seat.[5] Shreveport extends along the west bank of the Red River (most notably at Wright Island, the Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park, and Bagley Island) into neighboring Bossier Parish. Shreveport and Bossier City are separated by the Red River. The population of Shreveport was 199,311 as of the 2010 U.S. Census.[6] The United States Census Bureau's 2017 estimate for the city's population decreased to 192,036.[7]

Shreveport was founded in 1836 by the Shreve Town Company, a corporation established to develop a town at the juncture of the newly navigable Red River and the Texas Trail, an overland route into the newly independent Republic of Texas. Prior to Texas becoming independent, this trail entered Mexico.[8] The city grew throughout the 20th century and, after the discovery of oil in Louisiana, became a national center for the oil industry. Standard Oil of Louisiana (absorbed by Standard Oil of New Jersey and now part of ExxonMobil) and United Gas Corporation (now part of Pennzoil) were headquartered in the city until the 1960s and 1980s. After the loss of jobs in the oil industry, the close of Shreveport Operations (a General Motors vehicle factory), and other economic problems the city struggled with a declining population, poverty, drugs and violent crime. Since Cedric Glover's tenure as mayor of Shreveport, the city has revitalized its neighborhoods and roads to end its population decline, revive the economy and lower crime.[9][10]

Shreveport is the educational, commercial and cultural center of the Ark-La-Tex region, where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas meet. It is the location of Centenary College of Louisiana, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Louisiana Tech University Shreveport, Southern University at Shreveport, and Louisiana Baptist University. Its neighboring city Bossier is the location of Bossier Parish Community College. Companies with significant operations or headquarters in Shreveport are AT&T, Chase Bank, Regions Financial Corporation, and APS Payroll.

Springhill, Louisiana

Springhill is a city in northernmost Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,279 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 160 since 2000. Springhill is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area though it is thirty miles north of Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish. The Springhill population is 34 percent African American, compared to 25 percent minority in 2000.[3]

The 1979 film Five Days from Home, which was directed by and starred George Peppard, was filmed primarily in Springhill. Peppard's third wife, Sherry Boucher, is a Springhill native; her father, Jesse L. Boucher was a businessman and developer who served as mayor of Springhill.

Webster Parish was first permanently settled about 1818 near Overton south of the parish seat of Minden. According to genealogical findings, William Farmer, Samuel Monzingo, J. A. Byrnes, and Joseph Murrell were the first settlers in the area. These settlers formed an area that was initially referred to informally as "Piney Woods." In 1894, though still unincorporated, what would eventually become Springhill took the name "Barefoot, Louisiana" on the notions of a Mrs. Maxwell, who assigned the name based on her observations that many men in the community went to work without shoes. The town that is today Springhill was finally incorporated in 1902. The first mayor was N.B. Taylor, who followed a year thereafter by B.D. Wilson. Peter Modisette was the mayor from 1914–1925.[4]

Tallulah, Louisiana

Tallulah is a small city in and the parish seat of Madison Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States.[5] The 2010 population was 7,335, a decrease of 1,854, or 20.2 percent, from the 9,189 recorded at the 2000 census.[6]

As this was historically a center of agriculture since the antebellum years, producing cotton and pecans, Tallulah and the parish have long had majority-African American populations. The small city is now nearly 77 percent African American; the surrounding parish is 60 percent black. Mechanization and industrial agriculture have reduced the number of jobs, and many residents have moved since the mid-20th century to larger cities with more opportunities.

Tallulah is the principal city of the Tallulah Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Madison Parish. The Madison Parish Sheriff's office operates the Steve Hoyle Rehabilitation Center in Tallulah.

Venice, Louisiana

Venice is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 202.[1] It is 77 miles south of New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River at 29°16′37″N 89°21′17″W / 29.27694°N 89.35472°W / 29.27694; -89.35472. It is the last community down the Mississippi accessible by automobile, and it is the southern terminus of the Great River Road. This has earned the town the nickname "The end of the world." The ZIP code for Venice is 70091.

In 2001, the combined population for Venice and the neighboring communities of Orchard (often considered a part of Venice) and Boothville, Louisiana, was about 2740 people, with about 975 families. About 460 of those people lived in Venice.

In 1969, Venice was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Camille. The pressure fell below 950 hPa, with winds over 100 miles per hour. The city would be devastated again 36 years later by Hurricane Katrina.

Westlake, Louisiana

Westlake is a city in Calcasieu Parish, in western Louisiana, United States, and is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,568 at the 2010 census.[3] Westlake was incorporated in 1945.

Westlake is located in east-central Calcasieu Parish at 30°14′54″N 93°15′33″W / 30.24833°N 93.25917°W / 30.24833; -93.25917 (30.248455, -93.259047),[4] on the west bank of the Calcasieu River, just north of that river's entry into the water body of Lake Charles. The city of Lake Charles borders Westlake across the river, connected via the Interstate 10 bridge.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Westlake has a total area of 3.71 square miles (9.60 km2), of which 3.65 square miles (9.46 km2) is land and 0.05 square miles (0.14 km2), or 1.49%, is water.[3]

Sibley, Louisiana

The former Sibley High School, now known as Lakeside Junior and Senior High School, is located south of town off Louisiana Highway 7. The Sibley Town Hall was relocated to a portion of the former Sibley High School campus.

North of Sibley is Calloway Corners Bed and Breakfast, refurbished in 1991 by Jeanne Woods, formerly of San Diego, California.[5] Woods turned her business into a vacation destination through Harlequin Enterprises, which produces popular romance novels.[6] Woods said that she chose the white house that had been abandoned in Sibley because "I love this part of the country. The people have great charm. They are so friendly and easy to know. It's so different. People care about people here; they're not caught up in the rush of life."[6] Calloway Corners is featured on the front of several books penned by romance novelists Katherine Burton, Sandra Canfield, Tracy Hughes, and Penny Richards. Woods even got the state of Louisiana and the Webster Parish Police Jury to designate Calloway Corners as a "town" on signs on Highway 7.[6][7]

The Yellow Pine community south of Sibley began as a sawmill of the Long Bell Company. Yellow Pine was the home of a commissary of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad. The mill employed both white and African American laborers. There were private residences and hotels in Yellow Pine, which was consolidated in 1921 with Sibley.[8]