Rapides Parish, Louisiana

Rapides Parish (: Paroisse des Rapides) is a located in the  of. It encompasses one half of the along with. Rapides is the French spelling of "."

History
In, the land that is now Rapides Parish became the new home of who were settled their with the permission of Governor Kerlerec. These Indians had previously, came to Mobile after fleeing the and their  Indian allies from what is now from,. Many of their descendents remain in Natchitoches Parish.

The first French settler was Vincent Porei who was granted a small tract of land in July 1764 by the Civil and Military Commander of Natchitoches. Nicolas Etienne Marafret Layssard the first Civil Commander of Rapides, which during the 1760s was still a dependency of Natchitoches arrived in December 1766 with the permission of Aubrey & Foucault in order to establish a "tar works" in the pineries of Rapides, for naval stores. [AGI, PPC, Legajo 187a, 384-384v.]Rapides Parish was formed in by the government of the.

Geography
The parish has a total area of 3,527 (1,362 ). 3,425 km² (1,323 sq mi) of it is land and 102 km² (39 sq mi) of it (2.89%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-49.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 71.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 165.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 167.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Louisiana 1.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:Louisiana 28.svg|20px]]

Adjacent parishes

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 126,337 people, 47,120 households, and 33,125 families residing in the parish. The was 37/km² (96/sq mi). There were 52,038 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (39/sq mi). The racial makeup of the parish was 66.51%, 30.43% or , 0.74% , 0.86% , 0.04% , 0.42% from , and 1.01% from two or more races. 1.38% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 47,120 households out of which 34.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.70% were living together, 16.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were non-families. 26.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the parish the population was spread out with 27.20% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 27.90% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.00 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $29,856, and the median income for a family was $36,671. Males had a median income of $29,775 versus $20,483 for females. The for the parish was $16,088. About 16.40% of families and 20.50% of the population were below the, including 26.30% of those under age 18 and 16.30% of those age 65 or over.

External link

 * Rapides Parish government's website