Marksville is a small city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Marksville had a population of 5,065.

Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994. It is operated by the federally recognized Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, which has a reservation in the parish.

History

thumb|[[Marksville Commercial Historic District]]

The land where Marksville was founded on was once a meeting place, leading to the present day Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site.

Marksville is named after Marc Eliche (Marco Litche or Marco de Élitxe, as recorded by the Spanish), a Sephardic Jewish trader believed to be from Venice, who established a trading post after his wagon broke down in this area. His Italian name was recorded by a Spanish priest as Marco Litche; French priests, who were with colonists, recorded his name as Marc Eliche or Mark Eliché after his trading post was established about 1794. Marksville was noted on Louisiana maps as early as 1809, after the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

1947 Rain of Fish Incident

On October 23, 1947, between seven and eight o’clock in the morning, hundreds fish ranging from two to nine inches in length fell from the sky onto the streets and yards of Marksville. These were local freshwater fish, including: Large-mouth black bass (Micropterus salmoides), goggle-eye (Lepomis gulosus), several species of minnows, and hickory shad (Alosa mediocris). Meanwhile, Greenhouse will be tried beginning June 12 on second-degree and attempted second-degree murder counts.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+Marksville racial composition as of 2020

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

|-

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

| 2,332

| 46.04%

|-

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

| 2,208

| 43.59%

|-

!scope="row"| Native American

| 78

| 1.54%

|-

!scope="row"| Asian

| 14

| 0.28%

|-

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 352

| 6.95%

|-

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 81

| 1.6%

|}

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,065 people, 2,145 households, and 1,150 families residing in the city.

Education

All primary public schools are run by the Avoyelles Parish School Board, which operates two schools within the city of Marksville. In January 2018, 5 children from Marksville died in a car accident while traveling through Gainesville, Florida.

Elementary

  • Marksville Elementary

High school

  • Marksville High School

Media

Newspaper

  • Avoyelles Journal

Radio

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Frequency !! Callsign !! Format !! Owner

|-

| 92.1 || KLIL || Classic hit || Cajun Broadcasting

|-

| 95.9 || KZLG || Adult contemporary || Cajun Broadcasting

|-

| 97.7 || KAPB-FM || Classic country || Bontemps Media Services

|}

Notable people

  • Allen Barbre, a football player with the Denver Broncos.
  • Earl Barbry, an American politician and Native American leader
  • D'Anthony Batiste (born 1982), Former football player for various teams
  • Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parish politician
  • Chester Coco (1915–2001), lawyer and Louisiana state senator
  • Edwin Edwards, four-term Governor of Louisiana
  • Elaine Schwartzenburg Edwards, US senator in 1972
  • H. Claude Hudson, civil rights activist and founder of Broadway Federal Bank
  • Jeannette Knoll, associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court since 1997
  • Chad Lavalais, former LSU and NFL football player
  • Tommy Neck, LSU and NFL football player from the 1960s
  • Ed Oliver, NFL football player
  • John H. Overton (1875–1948), U.S. senator, native of Marksville
  • Horace Pierite, former chief of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe.
  • Gaston Porterie, former Attorney General of the State of Louisiana
  • Charles Addison Riddle III, District Attorney and former State Representative
  • Little Walter Jacobs, blues musician, 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  • Chief Sesostrie Youchigant, former chief of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe.

National Guard

1020th Engineer Company (Vertical) of the 527th Engineer Battalion of the 225th Engineer Brigade is located in Marksville.

Small communities in the area

  • Brouillette
  • Fifth Ward
  • Moncla
  • Spring Bayou
  • Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation

References

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