Monroe, Louisiana

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Template:Geobox City

Colorful Washington Plaza in downtown Monroe
Monroe City Hall
Monroe Convention Hall across from City Hall
First Baptist Church in downtown Monroe

The city of Monroe is the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. [1] [2] It is the principal city of the Monroe, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area (pop. 171,188), which is included in the Monroe-Bastrop, Louisiana Combined Statistical Area. The population of Monroe's Combined Statistical Area is 202,209. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 52,027, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. Monroe is situated on the Ouachita River and continues to serve as a population center and distribution outlet for the surrounding farming community.

Monroe and the neighboring town of West Monroe (pop. 13,250), which sits just across the Ouachita River, are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana.

Geography

Monroe is located at 32°30′37″N 92°05′42″W / 32.51028°N 92.09500°W / 32.51028; -92.09500Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (32.510343, -92.094895)Template:GR and has an elevation of 72 feet (21.9 m)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.6 square miles (83.9 km²), of which, 28.7 square miles (74.3 km²) of it is land and 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²) of it is water. The total area is 11.46% water.

Demographics

Francis Towers located in downtown Monroe.

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 53,107 people,[2] 19,421 households, and 12,157 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,851.8 people per square mile (714.9/km²). There are 21,278 housing units at an average density of 741.9/sq mi (286.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 36.78% White, 61.13% African American, 0.13% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. 1.01% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 19,421 households, out of which 32.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.4% are married couples living together, 25.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% are non-families. 31.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.54 and the average family size is 3.26.

In the city the population is spread out with 29.7% under the age of 18, 15.0% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 17.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 29 years, much younger than Louisiana's median age of 34.0 years. For every 100 females there are 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 76.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $25,864, and the median income for a family is $33,263. Males have a median income of $31,840 versus $22,352 for females. The per capita income for the city is $15,933. 32.3% of the population and 26.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 45.3% of those under the age of 18 and 21.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Education

Public schools

The Monroe City School System manages 18 primary schools, 13 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 3 high schools. The high schools included in the city system are Carroll High School (formerly Monroe Colored High School), Neville High School, and Wossman High School. The Ouachita Parish School System is responsible for managing schools outside the Monroe city limits.

Private schools

Monroe is also home to Grace Episcopal School, River Oaks School, New Vision Learning Academy, Ouachita Christian School, Northeast Baptist School, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School, Claiborne Christian, Jesus the Good Shepherd Catholic School, and St. Frederick's Catholic School.

Colleges and Universities

The University of Louisiana at Monroe is located in the city, as well as Delta Community College. The Louisiana Technical College, Delta Ouachita Campus, is located a few miles west of West Monroe and provides vocational and technical training and education for both post high school and adult students. Grambling State University and Louisiana Tech are just west of Monroe.

Transportation

Greyhound Bus Lines provides transportation from Monroe to many cities across the nation. The city of Monroe also has the oldest municipally owned transit system in the nation. Created in 1906, the Monroe Transit System (mtsbus.org) is the public transportation provider of 13 bus routes covering areas of the city.

Monroe Regional Airport serves the city. The airport has three main runways and is served by Delta, Northwest, American, and Continental Airlines.

Monroe can be accessed from I-20, U.S. Highway 165, U.S. Highway 15, and U.S. Highway 80.

Monroe has two main railroads Kansas City Southern Railway that runs from east to west and Union Pacific that runs from North to South. Other railroads include:

Entertainment

The Monroe Civic Center, which has multiple complexes. The main complex is the Civic center Arena. This arena provides 44,000 square feet (4,100 m2) of exhibit space along with 5,600 seats. The arena may have larger capacities up to 7,200 seats. The arena houses events such as banquets, circuses, and rodeos. The civic center also has the B.D. Robinson conference hall, Monroe Convention Center, equestrian pavilion, and the W.L. "Jack" Howard Theatre.

Monroe features the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo, which collectively maintains over 500 animals. The zoo also offers boat rides and a catwalk in addition to other seasonal activities.

The Monroe area is home to several museums, including the Northeast Louisiana Children's Museum, The Biedenharn Museum and Gardens, Aviation Military Museum, the Masur Museum of Arts, and the Northeast Louisiana Delta African-American Heritage Museum.

Monroe is home to the Louisiana Motor Speedway, located near Interstate 20, and Twin City Dragway.

Monroe hosts Deltafest.

Family Entertainment

  • Monroe - Skatetown, Inc.
  • Monroe - Bayou Bowl
  • Monroe - Tilt! [Pecandland Mall]
  • Monroe - Doodles [Twin City Shopping Center]
  • West Monroe - Dirtbike Track
  • West Monroe - Skatetown
  • West Monroe- Excalibur Fun Park

Golf


Shopping

Economy

Monroe served as the home of Delta Air Lines from 1926 to 1941 until the company relocated to Atlanta, Georgia. In 2004, Delta stopped mainline jet service to Monroe, despite the city's small size. Monroe Regional Airport's logo is a "Delta" symbol and bears the statement "Birthplace of Delta Air Lines" at the entrance and on its website. Monroe is the historic site of the first Coca-Cola bottling plant.

Today, Monroe is home to many manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and farm-related corporations and partners. Monroe hosts corporate offices for Chase Manhattan Bank's mortgage records division , the headquarters of Vantage Health Plan, (a major supplier of health insurance in Louisiana, whose office building is apart of Monroe's downtown skyline), Ouachita Fertilizer, a branch of the Abell Corporation, and Berry Plastics Group, formerly Tyco Plastics, which has a production facility in Monroe. Bancroft Bag employs over 400 employees in its facilities. Accent Marketing has located its offices in Monroe's old State Farm office complex. Angus Chemical, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, located in nearby Sterlington, LA, contributes to Monroe's underlying economy as well. There are plans in place for a new production facility in the former Guide production facility.

The Monroe metro area boasts four major hospitals, including St. Francis North (formerly North Monroe Medical Center), and St. Francis Medical Center, home of the Kitty Degree Breast Health Center, respectively. Monroe's hospital system has been rated among the nation's top 5%. The other two include the Louisiana State University Medical Center - Monroe (formerly the E.A. Conway Hospital, which includes a family medicine residency program providing charity medical care to the eight parishes of Northeast Louisiana), and Glenwood Medical Center (West Monroe).

Monroe is the corporate headquarters for CenturyTel, a Fortune 1000 company and the eighth-largest telecommunications provider in the nation. The Northeast Louisiana War Veteran's Home is located adjacent to the campus.

National Guard

Monroe is home to the 528th Engineer Battalion of the Louisiana Army National Guard. This unit is part of the 225th Engineer Group which is headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana at Camp Beauregard.

Neighborhoods

Southern Monroe (south of U.S. Highway 80) This area contains the Pecanland Mall and the Louisiana Purchase Gardens & Zoo. This area is home to a majority of the city's African American population.

  • Parkview
  • Robinson Place
  • Richwood
  • Lamyville
  • Renwick's Addition
  • Oregon Trail
  • West Parkview
  • Bryant's Addition
  • Grayling Bend
  • Tanglewood
  • Charmingdale
  • New Town
  • Atkinson Quarters
  • King Oaks

North and East Monroe (north of U.S. Highway 80) The University of Louisiana at Monroe and the headquarters for CenturyTel can be found in this area.

  • Betin Heights
  • Oakmont
  • Westminister
  • Garden District
  • Marie Place Addition
  • Sholar's Addition
  • Pargoud Place
  • Plantation Park
  • Westwood
  • Forsythe Park
  • Brierfield
  • River Oaks
  • Town & Country
  • Northside Terrace
  • Cypress Point
  • Lakeshore
  • Bayou Oaks
  • Frenchman's Bend
  • Swartz
  • Lincoln Hills
  • Parkview Heights Subdivision
  • North Pointe Plantation
  • Booker T
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Media

Monroe is served by a Gannett newspaper, the Monroe News Star, formerly an afternoon daily owned and operated by the late father-son team of publishers, Robert Wilson Ewing, I, and John D. Ewing of New Orleans and Shreveport, respectively. When the Ewing's Monroe Morning World ceased publication, the sister publication, the News Star, became the city's morning-only newspaper. The News Star can be found online at http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage. Among the staff members of the News Star is political reporter Greg Hilburn, son of Wiley W. Hilburn, head of the Journalism Department at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and himself a former World-News Star reporter.

Monroe is also served by two African-American weekly newspapers: The Monroe Free Press and the Monroe Dispatch. The Free Press was founded in 1969 by Roosevelt Wright, Jr.; its web presence began in 1996 and is located at http://monroefreepress.com. The Dispatch was founded in 1975 by Irma and Frank Detiege.

Television

Radio

Notable People

Athletes

Musicians

  • Hamid Drake (Jazz drummer and percussionist)
  • Carl Fontana (Jazz trombonist)
  • Kevin Griffin (Lead Singer of Better Than Ezra)
  • Andy Griggs (Country music singer)
  • Frank Ticheli (Internationally known composer, conductor, Professor of Music, University of Southern California)
  • Billy Ledbetter----singer-songwriter noted for "Stealing Hubcaps", a hit single in the '60s, and also voted top lounge entertainer in Las Vegas for five consecutive years
  • William Lon Wilson---singer, songwriter, drummer----wrote numerous top 10 country songs, consistently voted top studio drummer in Nashville

Politicians

Businesspeople

  • Earl Casey (born ca. 1947), executive of CNN - Turner Broadcasting, Inc. since 1981, began journalism career at KNOE-TV in 1965
  • Grady A. Dugas (1923-2007), inventor of the "Safer Automatic Wheelchair Wheel Locks"
  • William Cecil "Billy" Farr (1942-2008), a pioneer in the mobile home business, opened Farr's Manufactured Housing in West Monroe in 1963, the first such company in Northeast Louisiana. A native of Gainesville, Texas, and a former medic in the United States Air Force, Farr was inducted into the Louisiana Manufactured Housing Association Hall of Fame. He died of cancer and is interred in Mulhearn Memorial Park in Monroe.[3]
  • Philip Nelson, Technology Emmy Nominee for NewTek TriCaster

Actors/Entertainment

Activists

Writers


References

  1. ^ "Monroe, Louisiana (LA) Detailed Profile" (notes), City Data, 2007, webpage: C-Monroe.
  2. ^ a b "Census 2000 Data for the State of Louisiana" (town list), US Census Bureau, May 2003, webpage: C2000-LA.
  3. ^ thenewsstar.com | Monroe OBITUARY | The News Star

External links

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