| Communities | Economy | History / Markers | Local Government |
| Location / Geography | Media | Parks and Recreation | Schools and Libraries |
| Parish Map | Top of page | ||
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Unincorporated areas of interest in the parish include Barnet Springs, Cedarton, Crossroads, Douglas, Grambling Corners, Hico, Hilly, Henry, Longstraw, Mt. Zion, Oak Grove, Sibley, Unionville and Woodville Places of interest: Louisiana Tech University; Grambling State University; Louisiana Tech Arboretum; Unionville General Store; Absolem Autry House; Old Chautauqua Grounds; Lincoln Parish Museum and Historical Society. Events: Louisiana Peach Festival; Singing Christmas Tree |
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Sugar Creek |
Wire Road |
History | |
| 1805 |
When the Territory of Orleans is divided into counties the present-day Lincoln Parish is part of Ouachita County and Natchitoches County |
| 1812 |
In 1812 all this section of North Louisiana was one great forest, with a thick mat of underbrush and vines. Indians living in the area included Ouachita, Caddo and later some Choctaw who migrated from Mississippi. The hill country of North Louisiana was known as a paradise for adventurous hunters. Game of every sort abounded: turkey, deer and buffalo, and in the winter, covering ponds and bayous, were the water fowl. It was also home for wolf, bear and panther, with wild horses and cattle running free over the country. Early in the nineteenth century forests fires raged through the area for several successive summers They burned all the underbrush and in some instances even taller timber, but when they finally burned out they left the country looking like a beautiful park with vast openings and enchanting vistas. Early hunters and surveyors told also of the fertility of the soil and of the healthfulness of the higher lands. The fame of the area spread far and wide. An additional motivation for settlers was the fact that land could be had from the government for almost nothing. From 1828, but mostly during the forties, the influx of immigration became a steady stream, mostly from the Southeastern United States. All these inducements caused settlers to pour into this section. They came so rapidly that it was necessary to divide the great parishes, for the people rightly claimed that the seats of government were too far for the most distant settlers to reach. |
| 1820s |
Settlements begin to appear in the area, the first being started by Jeptha Colvin near Vienna.Another was Woodville or Redvine near Choudrant |
| 1828 |
In 1828 the state legislature passed an act to form the new parish of Claiborne, named for the first governor. The parish was to include all land south of the Arkansas Territory, west of Ouachita parish, east of the Red River and north of a line starting at the east bank of the Red River at a point fifty miles north of the village of Natchitoches, thence due east to the Ouachita boundary. This boundary puts a portion of what is now Lincoln Parish within Claiborne Parish or many years. |
| 1839 |
In 1839 Union Parish was formed from the northwestern part of Ouachita, so for some years a large part of what is now Lincoln was in Union Parish. |
| 1840s |
The Absolem Autry House is built near Dubach. Its wide center hall lends it the name it is known by: the "dog trot" house. |
| 1845 |
Jackson Parish was formed in 1845 out of the contiguous portions of the parishes of Ouachita, Union and Claiborne. A considerable part of what is now Lincoln was thus made a part of Jackson Parish for twenty-five years. |
| 1848 |
First called Colvin’s Post Office, Vienna, La. will be incorporated in 1848. It is an overnight stop on the Trenton-Shreveport Stage Road, later called the Wire Road when the telegraph line was strung along it.
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| 1857 |
Telegraph wires rise along a stagecoach road from Monroe to Shreveport. Later it is called the old Wire Road. |
| 1863 |
During the Civil War there was no fighting in this immediate section and few enemy troops were to be seen; but during the siege of Vicksburg, over one hundred miles away, worried mothers heard the booming cannons, and news from the engagements on the Red River and from the Battle of Mansfield was sought anxiously.
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| 1873 |
Lincoln Parish was organized in 1873, during the Kellogg administration, when looting and graft were rampant throughout the state. It is carved from parts of Jackson, Claiborne, Bienville and Union parishes. Conditions arising during this Reconstruction period brought about the demand for the organization of a new parish, but not because people were demanding smaller parishes or a parish seat more conveniently located. The principal demand was from Carpetbagger politicians who wanted more offices and more power. Local elections were often contested by honest citizens, to no avail, and the new parish was no exception. Vienna is the first parish seat with a two story courthouse that will burn down in 1890 |
| 1883 |
The Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad is built through the southern part of the parish in 1883. This meant much to a people whose nearest market was thirty odd miles away over bad roads. Lincoln Parish was strictly rural, without a big town in all her 472 square miles of territory. Vienna, the parish seat, hardly reached one thousand people even in her most prosperous days. Stations along the railroad were located at what is now Choudrant, Ruston, and Simsboro. It was not until sixteen years later that a road north and south was established connecting Ruston and the parish to markets in Little Rock, Arkansas and Alexandria, Louisiana. Following in the tracks of the railroad builders there came lumbermen setting up saw mills along the road. Some of these saw mill communities survived and grew into towns. |
| 1883 |
In 1877, when certain citizens living in the southeastern part of the parish voted to be transferred back to Jackson Parish. Since then the parish seat of Lincoln has moved four miles closer to them and has prospered. Vernon, the seat of Jackson Parish at the time, has dwindled in size and lost its courthouse to Jonesboro, almost 30 miles away. |
| 1884 |
Last year R.E. Russ donates part of his plantation land to the Railroad with the provision that a stationis built on the land. Many of the Merchants of Vienna move their businesses to the site and the community of Ruston, which becomes the new parish seat, is born. |
| 1890 |
The Louisiana Chautauqua Society is formed and will flourish until 1905 as a teaching institute, health spa and entertainment center. |
| 1894 |
Louisiana Tech University is founded in Ruston as the Louisiana Industrial Institute |
| 1901 |
Grambling State University is established five miles west of Ruston. |
| 1951 |
The first Louisiana Peach Festival is held to celebrate the area's peach industry which has thrived since the early 1900s. |
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The Lincoln Parish School System includes 23 elementary, middle, junior high and senior high schools. There is one private school in the parish to provide an alternative for students not attending public schools. All public and private schools are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary schools and the Louisiana Independent School Association. Currently the percentages of graduating seniors attending college is 67.43%, the highest in the state for public schools. Annual cost in public funds to provide schooling is $2,634 per student, with a pupil-to teacher ratio of 18.03:1. There are two private schools in the parish for those students who want an alternative to public schools. Over 400 students attend Cedar Creek School and Bethel Christian School. Tiny Lincoln Parish is an important center of education of all types in North Louisiana. Ruston is the location for one school for exceptional children, Ruston State School, and a residential rehabilitation training school for blind adults and children, the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Two state supported universities are also located here. |
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Vocational training is available at Ruston Vocational Technical Institute, a state-funded facility in Ruston, and in the vocational program of the parish schools. Vocational training includes welding, auto mechanics, small engine repair, business, LPN nursing, machine shop, drafting and instrumentation. To assure that new and expanding businesses have a continuing pool of workers with the level of education and expertise necessary for their operations, the area’s colleges and universities, vocational/technical schools and high schools graduate trained and entry-level persons year round. Schools at all levels are augmenting their general education missions with programs explicitly connected with employment possibilities for their students. This is seen in secondary schools in career education curricula and programs such as adopt-a-school through which business contributes resources, curriculum guidance and, in some cases, instruction, counseling and the promise of jobs for graduates. Community colleges are increasing their industry-specific training and colleges and universities are developing partnerships with industry that involve human as well as technological development. |
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Education |
Within an hour's drive of Ruston are seven other colleges or universities. Five of these offer doctoral degrees in the arts, sciences, engineering, medical and legal fields. These universities are nationally and internationally recognized as sponsoring extensive research activities. Louisiana State University -Shreveport 60 miles Northwestern State University 80 miles Centenary College 60 miles Baptist Christian College 25 miles LSU Medical Center-Shreveport 60 miles Southern University-Shreveport/Bossier 55 milesv Bossier Parish Community College 55 miles |
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Louisiana Tech was founded in 1894 and is the oldest university in North Louisiana. Associate, undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in Business Administration, Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, Human Ecology, and Life Sciences. An international program offers classes in Italy and Mexico. The 10,000 plus students represent every parish in Louisiana, every state in America and 49 countries and give Tech the highest graduation rate in the state. The campus and the university are a source of pride, excitement and culture for all residents of Lincoln Parish. Tech"s value to the community goes way beyond its educational services. Area hospitals draw upon the internatonal reputation of its Bio-Med Center. Research in other engineering disciplines works hand-in-hand with area businesses. The university offers a variety of facilities for use by convention groups. The university Concert Association brings outstanding entertainment to the parish every year. |
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| Founded by Charles P. Adams in 1901, Grambling State University is a multi-purpose, state-supported, coeducational institution The degree granting academic units include the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Science & Technology, Education, and Business; the Schools of Nursing and Social Work; and the Division of Graduate Studies. Preliminary training is available for medicine, law and dentistry. Non-credit continuing education programs serve the citizens of Grambling and North Louisiana. New Emphasis in Grambling State's Graduate School curriculum has been placed on the Ed.D. in Developmental Education, a unique offering in Louisiana. With an enrollment of approximately 6000+, the University is small enough to provide its students with individual attention and concern, and large enough to offer them choices from a wide spectrum of curricular experiences. The guiding principles of the University embrace the motto that "Everybody is Somebody". | |
A. C. Lewis Memorial Library Director - Pamela Suggs P. O. Box 3 Grambling, LA 71245 Email - 2 Branches - Homer, Joe W. Webb Memorial Library Director -Gene Wright 509 W. Alabama Ruston, LA 71270-4231 Email - inlibl@auroro.latech.edu.us or gwright@pelican.state.lib.la.us Prescot Memorial Library Director -Rebecca Stenzel P. O. Box 10408 Ruston, LA 71272-0046 Email - stenzel@latech.edu www.latech.edu/tech/library Lincoln Parish enjoys an excellent state-supported public library system. The library is located in Ruston, with a head librarian and a staff of 19. Volumes in the library total in excess of 75,000, with approximately 380 new additions per month. The facilities offer reading and reference materials for all ages including 358 newspapers and magazines. Films, cassettes and phonograph records are also available. The Library building is a spacious 14,000 square feet with seating for 88 persons at one time. A meeting room accommodates 56 people and is available for use by clubs and community organizations. A book mobile visits outlying communities on a regular basis. The parish library is a member of the Trail Blazer Library System, which covers 13 parishes in Northeast Louisiana. Members of the system share resources through an inter library loan system. The Prescott Memorial Library, located on the Louisiana Tech campus, has more than 250,000 catalogued books, as well as over 1,636 periodicals. Several special collections relating to Louisiana, Forestry and government documents are kept here. Holders of Trail Blazer and Lincoln Parish library cards may borrow books. The A. C. Lewis Memorial Library is located on the Grambling State University campus. It contains more than 200,000 books and 1,176 periodicals. A special collection includes books and materials by and about black Americans of African origin, Africa, and Africans. The library participates in resource sharing programs for libraries including Interlibrary Loan Service, the Trail Blazer Library System, the Louisiana Numerical Register and the Southeastern Library Network. American Library Directory 1999-2000, R. R. Bowker |
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