St. Helena Parish, Louisiana

St. Helena Parish (; ) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 10,920. Its seat is Greensburg. The parish was created in 1810. St. Helena Parish is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

History

The parish is one of the eight Florida Parishes, a region which was once part of colonial West Florida. The area was annexed to the Territory of Orleans in 1810, after the short-lived Republic of West Florida capitulated to the United States.

In 1832, the southern section of the parish was taken to form Livingston Parish and the St. Helena parish seat was redesignated as Greensburg, where it remains today. St. Helena lost another portion of land in 1866, which was subsequently added to land from other parishes to form Tangipahoa Parish.

From 1964 to 1984, St. Helena Parish was represented in the Louisiana State Senate by the Democrat businessman W. E. "Bill" Dykes. In 1983, as a casualty of redistricting, Dykes bowed out of contention in a race which would have pitted him against long-term Senate President Sixty Rayburn of Bogalusa, Louisiana. Rayburn himself lost his senate seat in 1995.

In recent years, St. Helena experienced a series of scandals involving parish officials. In 1997, Sheriff Eugene Holland (October 13, 1954 – December 14, 2010) was found guilty of misuse of government funds and property and using prison inmates for personal labor; he spent time in prison as a result. His replacement, Chaney L. Phillips (born ), served for only a year as sheriff before he was convicted of fraud and money laundering that he had committed while serving as the parish assessor. He was given an eight-year prison sentence on conviction in 1998 of having placed a political supporter on his assessor office staff; the individual performed no duties. Phillips was assigned to the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado. He was released on May 23, 2003.

Ronald "Gun" Ficklin, former mayor of Greensburg, took over the sheriff's office from Phillips in 1998, but on February 5, 2007, Ficklin himself pleaded guilty on multiple counts involving his role in operating "chop shops" — reselling stolen automobiles and parts — using state prisoners to staff these activities and as a pit crew for his race car. Ficklin died of cancer while in prison (October 21, 2011).

In 2007, Nat Williams was elected as Ficklin's replacement, the first African American to hold the office in that parish.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water. It is located in the northern tier of the Florida Parishes, and within the Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

Major highways

25px Louisiana Highway 10
25px Louisiana Highway 16
25px Louisiana Highway 37
25px Louisiana Highway 38
25px Louisiana Highway 43
25px Louisiana Highway 441

Adjacent parishes and counties

Amite County, Mississippi – north
Tangipahoa Parish – east
Livingston Parish – south
East Baton Rouge Parish – southwest
East Feliciana Parish – west

Communities

Town

Greensburg (parish seat and largest municipality)

Village

Montpelier

Unincorporated communities

Chipola
Coleman Town
Darlington
Easleyville
Grangeville
Hillsdale
Kedron
Liverpool
Pine Grove

Demographics

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+St. Helena Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|4,731

|4,699

|4,859

|4,999

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4,494

|48.14%

|47.59%

|46.17%

|44.62%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |41.15%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|4,976

|5,108

|5,480

|5,964

|style='background: #ffffe6; |5,846

|50.64%

|51.73%

|52.07%

|53.24%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |53.53%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|12

|10

|34

|style='background: #ffffe6; |38

|0.04%

|0.12%

|0.10%

|0.30%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.35%

|Asian alone (NH)

|10

|style='background: #ffffe6; |19

|0.05%

|0.02%

|0.10%

|0.08%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.17%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4

|0.01%

|0.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.04%

|Other race alone (NH)

|21

|style='background: #ffffe6; |23

|0.01%

|0.07%

|0.03%

|0.19%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.21%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|58

|77

|style='background: #ffffe6; |280

|0.55%

|0.69%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.56%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|110

|46

|104

|99

|style='background: #ffffe6; |216

|1.12%

|0.47%

|0.99%

|0.88%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.98%

|Total

|9,827

|9,874

|10,525

|11,203

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10,920

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

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

At the 2010 United States census, there were 11,203 people living in the parish, and at the 2000 U.S. census, there were 10,525 people. The 2019 American Community Survey estimated 10,297 people lived in the parish. The 2020 census tabulated a total of 10,920 residents. In 2019, there were 3,857 households, down from 3,873 at the 2000 census.

The racial and ethnic makeup at the 2019 census-estimates was 52.5% Black and African American, 45.7% non-Hispanic white, 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% some other race, and 0.2% multiracial; Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 1.8% of the total population. In 2010, the racial and ethnic makeup was 53.3% Black and African American, 44.9% White American, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% of some other race and 0.8% of two or more races; 0.9% were Hispanic and Latin American of any race.

Of the 3,857 households at the 2019 census-estimates, 78.7% were aged 18 and older, 5.4% aged 5 and under, and 18.9% aged 65 and older.

Brushy Creek Crater

St. Helena Parish contains the only identified meteorite impact crater in the state of Louisiana. This suspected impact crater is a roughly circular depression about 1.2 miles/2 km in diameter. Shocked quartz and intensely fractured quartz have been recovered from fractured and possibly altered sediments comprising its rim. Its age is estimated to be between 11 and 30 ka.

Politics

Owing in part to its high African American population, St. Helena Parish leans Democratic. It did so in its early history and has also done so since Nixon's 1972 landslide. In 2024 Donald Trump lost the Parish by only 44 votes, the closest a Republican has come to carrying St. Helena since the 1972 election.

References

External links

St Helena Parish Police Jury
Explore the History and Culture of Southeastern Louisiana at National Park Service