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 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, 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.
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 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
Village
- Montpelier
Unincorporated communities
- Chipola
- Coleman Town
- Darlington
- Easleyville
- Grangeville
- Hillsdale
- Kedron
- Liverpool
- Pine Grove
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 1980 | Pop 1990 | Pop 2000 | Pop 2010 | Pop 2020 | % 1980 | % 1990 | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
| White alone | 4,731 | 4,699 | 4,859 | 4,999 | 4,494 | 48.14% | 47.59% | 46.17% | 44.62% | 41.15% |
| Black or African American alone | 4,976 | 5,108 | 5,480 | 5,964 | 5,846 | 50.64% | 51.73% | 52.07% | 53.24% | 53.53% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone | 4 | 12 | 10 | 34 | 38 | 0.04% | 0.12% | 0.10% | 0.30% | 0.35% |
| Asian alone | 5 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 0.05% | 0.02% | 0.10% | 0.08% | 0.17% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone | x | x | 1 | 0 | 4 | x | x | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.04% |
| Other race alone | 1 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 23 | 0.01% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0.19% | 0.21% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial | x | x | 58 | 77 | 280 | x | x | 0.55% | 0.69% | 2.56% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 110 | 46 | 104 | 99 | 216 | 1.12% | 0.47% | 0.99% | 0.88% | 1.98% |
| Total | 9,827 | 9,874 | 10,525 | 11,203 | 10,920 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the parish had a population of 10,920. The median age was 42.3 years. 22.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.8 males age 18 and over.The racial makeup of the parish was 41.5% White, 53.7% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.0% from some other race, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.0% of the population.
<0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 4,380 households in the parish, of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 38.3% were married-couple households, 22.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 5,243 housing units, of which 16.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 80.1% were owner-occupied and 19.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.0%.
The 2020 PL data show the parish remained majority African-American among Louisiana parishes.
2019 American Community Survey
The 2019 American Community Survey estimated 10,297 people lived in the parish and reported 3,857 households, down from 3,873 households recorded in 2000.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 the 2019 estimates, 78.7% of the population was aged 18 or older, 5.4% was aged 5 and under, and 18.9% was aged 65 and older; the median age was 39.4, up from 35 at the 2000 census.
The parish had an employment rate of 45.9%, and the population was spread throughout 5,330 housing units. An estimated 78.9% of the population owned their housing units. The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $100,100, and the median gross rent was $656. The median income for a household in the parish was $43,886; males had a median income of $52,398 versus $31,003 for females. An estimated 24.3% of the parish population lived at or below the poverty line in 2019.
2010 census
At the 2010 United States census, there were 11,203 people living in the parish.The racial and ethnic makeup in 2010 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 or Latino of any race.