Haynesville is a town in northern Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States, located just south of the Arkansas border. The population was 2,039 in 2020.

History

thumb|right|Haynesville in 1935

The town of Haynesville is the namesake of the Haynesville Shale, an upper Jurassic formation that is difficult to define on a technical basis but nevertheless covers a broad region of western Louisiana and east Texas and contains a large natural gas resource. On March 24, 2008, Chesapeake Energy announced a new natural gas discovery in the Haynesville Shale. This announcement began a new chapter in the development of the Hayneville Shale and hastened the activities of several other companies in the play.

The town's churches include Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Missionary Baptist, Pentecostal, and Church of Christ. This part of the state was settled by Protestants from other parts of the South, more than by ethnic French, Louisiana Creole, Italian and Irish Catholics more typically found in the New Orleans area.

Material on the history of Haynesville can be found at the Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum located across from the Claiborne Parish Courthouse in Homer.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and 0.22% is water.

The most common soil is Eastwood series, which has of brown very fine sandy loam over of red clay. It supports a native forest vegetation of loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, southern red oak, American sweet gum and hickory.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Haynesville has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Haynesville had a population of 2,039. The median age was 42.5 years. 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.5% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 81.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.0 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 836 households in Haynesville, of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 31.6% were married-couple households, 18.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 43.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

|-

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 679

| 33.3%

|-

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 1,233

| 60.47%

|-

!scope="row"| Native American

| 12

| 0.59%

|-

!scope="row"| Asian

| 2

| 0.1%

|-

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 77

| 3.78%

|-

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 36

| 1.77%

|}

Government and infrastructure

The United States Postal Service operates the Haynesville Post Office.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections operates the David Wade Correctional Center in an unincorporated section of Claiborne Parish near Haynesville.

Crime

In May 1999, the Haynesville Police Department discovered the skeletal remains of Shannon Capers, a 13-year-old girl who had been missing since March 8, 1997. She was found in the woods behind the Mill Street Apartments on the north side of town. Capers had lived in the apartments. She was known to have been murdered by her boyfriend, a local drug dealer named Maurice Tate.

thumb| right|[[Haynesville Junior-Senior High School]]

Education

The Claiborne Parish School Board is the local school district for the entire parish. It operates Haynesville Elementary School and Haynesville Junior/Senior High School.

Notable people

  • Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer, born August 30, 1924
  • Demetric Evans, NFL football player (San Francisco 49ers)
  • Doug Evans, former NFL football player (Green Bay Packers; Super Bowl XXXI champion)
  • Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, musician and civil rights activist
  • John Sidney Garrett, Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1968–1972)
  • Jim Haynes (1933–2021), leading figure in British counter-culture
  • George H. Mahon, U.S. Representative from Texas's 19th congressional district from 1935 to 1979.
  • Danny Roy Moore (1925–c. 2020), Louisiana state senator from 1964 to 1968
  • Bob Odom, former Louisiana commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry
  • Larry Sale, sheriff of Claiborne Parish from 1936 to 1944
  • A. L. Williams, high school and college football coach; born in Haynesville

<gallery class="center" widths="150px">

Image:Haynesville, LA, Methodist Church IMG 0887.JPG|Haynesville United Methodist Church

Image:Revised photo of Haynesville Baptist Church IMG 2202.JPG|First Baptist Church in downtown Haynesville

Image:Haynesville, LA, Presbyterian Church IMG 0903.JPG|The First Presbyterian Church in Haynesville

Image:Haynesville, LA, City Hall IMG 0885.JPG|City Hall in Haynesville

Image:Obelisk in Centennial Park in Haynesville, LA IMG 0906.JPG|This obelisk erected in 1976 in Bicentennial Park in Haynesville is dedicated to the medical profession.

Image:Old Town Cemetery in Haynesville, LA IMG 0900.JPG|The large Old Town Cemetery in south Haynesville.

</gallery>

References