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Mansfield, Louisiana
City of Mansfield
Downtown Mansfield 2019
Downtown Mansfield 2019
Location of Mansfield in De Soto Parish, Louisiana.
Location of Mansfield in De Soto Parish, Louisiana.
Mansfield, Louisiana is located in Louisiana
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield, Louisiana
Location in Louisiana
Mansfield, Louisiana is located in the United States
Mansfield, Louisiana
Mansfield, Louisiana
Location in the United States
Country  United States
States  Louisiana
Parish DeSoto
Area
 • Total 3.66 sq mi (9.48 km2)
 • Land 3.65 sq mi (9.46 km2)
 • Water 0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 4,714
 • Density 1,290.80/sq mi (498.33/km2)
Time zone UTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
71052
Area code 318
U.S. Highway US 84.svg US 171.svg
Another view of downtown Mansfield, LA IMG 2425
Another look at downtown Mansfield
Community Bank of Louisiana in Mansfield, LA IMG 2417
Community Bank of Louisiana in Mansfield
First Baptist Church of Mansfield, LA IMG 2414
The First Baptist Church of Mansfield is located at 1710 McArthur Drive (U.S. Highway 84).
First Baptist Church historical marker, Mansfield, LA IMG 2450
Historical marker at Mansfield State Historic Site referring to role of First Baptist Church during the battle of Mansfield

Mansfield is a small city in, and the parish seat of, DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,001 at the 2010 census, a decline of more than 10 percent from the 2000 tabulation. Mansfield is 77 percent African American. Mansfield is part of the ShreveportBossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The Battle of Mansfield, a Confederate victory under General Richard Taylor (son of Zachary Taylor), was fought here on April 8, 1864. This battle turned 42,000 Union troops away from their conquest of the Louisiana Confederate capital, Shreveport, and sent them in retreat to New Orleans. The battle is commemorated at the Mansfield State Historic Site some four miles south of Mansfield off Louisiana Highway 175.

The first woman's college west of the Mississippi River, Mansfield Female College, was founded by the Methodist Church there in 1855. A two-year college, its first class graduated in 1856. Financial difficulties and the threat of war closed the college from 1860 to the end of the American Civil War, during which its buildings served as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the battle of Mansfield; it reopened in 1865. In 1930, Mansfield Female College merged with Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport and closed its doors permanently. In 2003, the Louisiana State Legislature moved to convert the main building of Mansfield Female College, the Lyceum, into a future museum.

The film The Great Debaters was partially shot in Mansfield and released on December 25, 2007. The story line involves a 1930s debate team from Marshall, Texas. The downtown scenes of Marshall, however, were actually shot on location in downtown Mansfield. The film stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker and was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 2008.

Geography

Mansfield is located at 32°1′58″N 93°42′9″W / 32.03278°N 93.70250°W / 32.03278; -93.70250 (32.032782, -93.702475) and has an elevation of 335 feet (102.1 m).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1870 813
1880 770 −5.3%
1890 908 17.9%
1900 847 −6.7%
1910 1,799 112.4%
1920 2,564 42.5%
1930 3,837 49.6%
1940 4,065 5.9%
1950 4,440 9.2%
1960 5,839 31.5%
1970 6,432 10.2%
1980 6,485 0.8%
1990 5,389 −16.9%
2000 5,582 3.6%
2010 5,001 −10.4%
2020 4,714 −5.7%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

Mansfield racial composition
Race Number Percentage
White (non-Hispanic) 727 15.42%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 3,691 78.3%
Native American 15 0.32%
Asian 28 0.59%
Other/Mixed 122 2.59%
Hispanic or Latino 131 2.78%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,714 people, 1,916 households, and 1,165 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 5,001 people, 2,500 households, and 1,450 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,515.4 people per square mile (585.7/km2). There were 2,298 housing units at an average density of 623.9 per square mile (241.1/km2).

Notable people

Mansfield was the childhood home of Joshua Logan, an award-winning director, producer, playwright and screenwriter for film and stage. He is most famous for directing Hollywood classics such as South Pacific, Picnic, Paint Your Wagon, Sayonara, Bus Stop and Fanny. Logan received the Pulitzer Prize at the age of forty for the libretto of South Pacific, which he cowrote with Oscar Hammerstein II. Logan used Mansfield as the setting for his play The Wisteria Trees.

Ocie Lee Smith was an American singer, who performed with Count Basie's band from 1961 to 1965 and sang on the 1969 Grammy Award-winning recording of the song "Little Green Apples". He was born in Mansfield on June 21, 1932.

Mansfield is the birthplace of major league baseball player Vida Blue (born Vida Rochelle Blue, Jr. on July 28, 1949), a left-handed starting pitcher. In a 17-year career, he played for the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, and Kansas City Royals. Also Jesse Hudson, New York Mets pitcher. They graduated Mansfield High School in 1967 together.

Mansfield is also the birthplace of Albert Lewis (born Albert Ray Lewis on October 6, 1960). Lewis made his professional debut in the NFL in 1983 with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Los Angeles Raiders over the course of his 16-year career. NFL cornerback Fakhir Brown (born Fakhir Hamin Brown on September 21, 1977) initially attended Mansfield High School.

Others affiliated with Mansfield by birth or residence include:

  • Sylura Barron (1900-1997), first African-American woman delegate to a national political convention (1948)
  • Joe T. Cawthorn (1911-1967), lawyer, businessman, and politician affiliated with Long faction
  • John H. Eastman (1861–1938), mayor of Shreveport from 1910 to 1914, was born in Mansfield in 1861.
  • Charles Wheaton Elam (1866–1917), state representative from 1892 to 1896
  • Joseph Barton Elam, Sr. (1821–1885), state representative, U.S. representative
  • Riemer Calhoun (1909-1994), state senator from DeSoto and Caddo parishes from 1944 to 1952
  • Kenny Ray Cox (born 1957), African-American state representative for Natchitoches, DeSoto, and Red River parishes; retired United States Army lieutenant colonel residing in Mansfield
  • Jeff Hall, accountant in Alexandria and Democratic member of the Louisiana House for District 26 since 2015; former Mansfield resident
  • William Pike Hall, Sr. (1896-1945), attorney and state senator from 1924 to 1932; born in Mansfield
  • Charles Johnson (born 1956), American football player
  • Jeter Jones, blues musician
  • Walter C. Lee (born 1934) former Desoto Parish school superintendent; elected member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Sidney Maiden (1923-1970), country blues musician, a singer and harmonica player who played with the guitarist K.C. Douglas
  • Sammy Joe Odom (1941–2001), professional football player. Odom was a college football standout at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and played a season for the Houston Oilers in 1964.
  • Arthur T. Prescott (1863-1942), founding president of Louisiana Tech University, born in Mansfield but reared in St. Landry Parish
  • Mack Charles Reynolds (1935–1991), professional football player
  • C. O. Simpkins (1925–2019), African-American dentist, state representative, and civil rights activist in Shreveport

See also

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