Union Parish (French: Paroisse de l'Union) is a parish located in the north central section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,107.[1] The parish seat is Farmerville.[2] The parish was created on March 13, 1839, from a section of Ouachita Parish. Its boundaries have changed four times since then (in 1845, 1846, 1867, and 1873, respectively).[3]
Union Parish is part of the Monroe, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 905 square miles (2,340 km2), of which 877 square miles (2,270 km2) is land and 28 square miles (73 km2) (3.1%) is water.[4]
Geographically north central Louisiana, Union Parish more closely resembles Lincoln Parish, to which Union is deeply tied culturally, politically, and educationally.[citation needed] Union Parish, along with Lincoln Parish to the southwest and Union County, Arkansas to the north, form the eastern boundary of the Ark-La-Tex region.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 | 1,838 | — | |
| 1850 | 8,203 | 346.3% | |
| 1860 | 10,389 | 26.6% | |
| 1870 | 11,685 | 12.5% | |
| 1880 | 13,526 | 15.8% | |
| 1890 | 17,304 | 27.9% | |
| 1900 | 18,520 | 7.0% | |
| 1910 | 20,451 | 10.4% | |
| 1920 | 19,621 | −4.1% | |
| 1930 | 20,731 | 5.7% | |
| 1940 | 20,943 | 1.0% | |
| 1950 | 19,141 | −8.6% | |
| 1960 | 17,624 | −7.9% | |
| 1970 | 18,447 | 4.7% | |
| 1980 | 21,167 | 14.7% | |
| 1990 | 20,690 | −2.3% | |
| 2000 | 22,803 | 10.2% | |
| 2010 | 22,721 | −0.4% | |
| 2020 | 21,107 | −7.1% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[6] 1790-1960[7] 1900-1990[8] 1990-2000[9] 2010[10] | |||
| Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 1980[11] | Pop 1990[12] | Pop 2000[13] | Pop 2010[14] | Pop 2020[15] | % 1980 | % 1990 | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 14,854 | 14,775 | 15,772 | 15,398 | 14,289 | 70.18% | 71.41% | 69.17% | 67.77% | 67.70% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 6,112 | 5,742 | 6,355 | 6,153 | 4,980 | 28.88% | 27.75% | 27.87% | 27.08% | 23.59% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 18 | 18 | 40 | 53 | 59 | 0.09% | 0.09% | 0.18% | 0.23% | 0.28% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 14 | 22 | 58 | 31 | 38 | 0.07% | 0.11% | 0.25% | 0.14% | 0.18% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) | x [16] | x [17] | 11 | 16 | 6 | x | x | 0.05% | 0.07% | 0.03% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 5 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 0.02% | 0.00% | 0.04% | 0.01% | 0.14% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | x [18] | x [19] | 98 | 125 | 570 | x | x | 0.43% | 0.55% | 2.70% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 164 | 133 | 461 | 943 | 1,135 | 0.77% | 0.64% | 2.02% | 4.15% | 5.38% |
| Total | 21,167 | 20,690 | 22,803 | 22,721 | 21,107 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 21,107 people, 7,582 households, and 4,899 families residing in the parish.
Located in far northern Louisiana next to the Arkansas state line, Union Parish is heavily Republican in most competitive elections, particularly at the presidential level, last voting for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 when Adlai Stevenson received 52% of the vote. In the most recent election in 2020, incumbent President Donald Trump received 8,407 votes (75.1 percent) of the parish total to 2,654 (23.7 percent) for former Vice President Joe Biden.[20]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2024 | 8,176 | 78.05% | 2,206 | 21.06% | 93 | 0.89% |
| 2020 | 8,407 | 75.06% | 2,654 | 23.69% | 140 | 1.25% |
| 2016 | 7,972 | 73.18% | 2,691 | 24.70% | 231 | 2.12% |
| 2012 | 7,561 | 70.23% | 3,075 | 28.56% | 130 | 1.21% |
| 2008 | 7,619 | 70.10% | 3,103 | 28.55% | 146 | 1.34% |
| 2004 | 7,457 | 69.57% | 3,089 | 28.82% | 172 | 1.60% |
| 2000 | 5,772 | 61.78% | 3,205 | 34.30% | 366 | 3.92% |
| 1996 | 4,418 | 46.30% | 4,260 | 44.64% | 865 | 9.06% |
| 1992 | 4,434 | 44.04% | 4,005 | 39.78% | 1,630 | 16.19% |
| 1988 | 5,900 | 62.97% | 3,210 | 34.26% | 259 | 2.76% |
| 1984 | 6,585 | 67.73% | 2,916 | 29.99% | 222 | 2.28% |
| 1980 | 5,130 | 55.77% | 3,841 | 41.76% | 227 | 2.47% |
| 1976 | 4,139 | 52.36% | 3,600 | 45.54% | 166 | 2.10% |
| 1972 | 4,322 | 70.20% | 1,465 | 23.79% | 370 | 6.01% |
| 1968 | 1,113 | 16.50% | 1,336 | 19.80% | 4,297 | 63.70% |
| 1964 | 4,534 | 79.70% | 1,155 | 20.30% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 2,017 | 49.64% | 1,034 | 25.45% | 1,012 | 24.91% |
| 1956 | 1,384 | 40.49% | 878 | 25.69% | 1,156 | 33.82% |
| 1952 | 1,894 | 47.96% | 2,055 | 52.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 259 | 9.07% | 724 | 25.35% | 1,873 | 65.58% |
| 1944 | 803 | 31.27% | 1,765 | 68.73% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 371 | 11.55% | 2,842 | 88.45% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 272 | 13.27% | 1,778 | 86.73% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 58 | 2.48% | 2,285 | 97.52% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 422 | 27.97% | 1,085 | 71.90% | 2 | 0.13% |
| 1924 | 7 | 0.79% | 875 | 99.09% | 1 | 0.11% |
| 1920 | 98 | 7.43% | 1,221 | 92.57% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1916 | 22 | 1.95% | 1,106 | 97.96% | 1 | 0.09% |
| 1912 | 11 | 1.39% | 696 | 87.66% | 87 | 10.96% |
Residents are assigned to Union Parish Public Schools.
| Union Parish Sheriff's Office | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | UPSO |
| Motto | Service Before Self |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1839 |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Farmerville, Louisiana |
| Agency executive |
|
| Website | |
| http://www.unionsheriff.com/ | |
The Union Parish Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency of Union Parish, Louisiana. It is headquartered in Farmerville. The current[as of?] Sheriff of Union Parish is Dusty Gates, who was first sworn as the sheriff following long time Sheriff Bob Buckley's death in September 2013.[22]
In 1931, a monument was erected at the Union Parish border with Union County, Arkansas. In 1975, State Representative Louise B. Johnson passed a law to refurbish the monument. The completed restoration was unveiled in 2009.[23]
Two Louisiana governors came from the Shiloh Community in Union Parish:
Two Arkansas governors were natives of Union Parish:
Other Union Parish residents have included:
Many facts concerning events in early Union Parish history come from the conveyance, probate, and lawsuit records on file in the Union Parish courthouse, as well as records of the United States Land Offices available in the National Archives. Other sources include:
1) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Spanish Poste d’Ouachita: The Ouachita Valley in Colonial Louisiana 1783–1804, and Early American Statehood, 1804–1820, Williams Genealogical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1995.
2) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Oe A – K, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1996.
3) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Two L – O, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1997.
4) Williams, Max Harrison, Union Parish (Louisiana) Historical Records: Police Jury Minutes, 1839–1846, D’Arbonne Research and Publishing Co., Farmerville, LA, 1993.
Places adjacent to Union Parish, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities of Union Parish, Louisiana, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Towns |  | |
| Villages | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent parish or parishes | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
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