St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana | |
| Map | |
 Location in the state of Louisiana |
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 Louisiana's location in the USA |
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| Statistics | |
| Founded | 1803 |
|---|---|
| Seat | Covington |
| Largest City | Slidell |
| Area - Total - Land - Water |
854 sq mi (2,212 km²) 717 sq mi (1,857 km²) 270 sq mi (699 km²), 24.01% |
| Population - (2000) - Density |
191,268 267/sq mi (103/km²) |
| Time zone | Central : UTC-6/-5 |
| Website: www.stpgov.org | |
| Named for: Indian Chief Tamanend | |
St. Tammany Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Covington and as of 2000, the population was 191,268. In 2004, the population was estimated to have grown to 212,000, and after Hurricane Katrina, the population was estimated by St. Tammany Planners to be about 270,000 but a door-to-door survey by the Louisiana Recovery Authority or the L.R.A put St. Tammany at about 220,600 residents or about 2,600 more people than before the storm, the parish estimate would have been 52,000 or a 24% growth rather than the 1.2% indicated by the L.R.A. While St. Tammany officials dispute the L.R.A's population count, the state backed its numbers by saying "The eastern part of St. Tammany Parish was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but the western half has been growing. Increased activity on the western side might create perception of more people. Whereas, if you look at the parish as a whole and look at the house-to-house survey you get a more true picture of the population as a whole," said Clayton Williams, who was in charge of the survey as director of urban health initiatives for the Louisiana Public Health Institute. The Louisiana Recovery Authority's methods used for counting population are seen by many to be questionable since they do not really cover entire neighborhoods, rather they choose neighborhoods from a chart and go to a select amount of homes in that neighborhood and from their response to the selected homes from that neigborhood they estimate how many other homes are populated in that area, also known as sampling, creating a sort of "drive by" population count and as a result have shortchanged St. Tammany's population, and Orleans Parish's population. An official population count won't be conducted until the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 count.
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[edit] Geography
The parish has a total area of 2,911 km² (1,124 mi²). 2,212 km² (854 mi²) of it is land and 699 km² (270 mi²) of it (24.01%) is water.
[edit] Major Highways
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[edit] Adjacent parishes
- Washington Parish (north)
- Pearl River County, Mississippi (northeast)
- Hancock County, Mississippi (east)
- Orleans Parish (south and southeast)
- Lake Pontchartrain (south)
- Jefferson Parish (southwest)
- Tangipahoa Parish (west)
[edit] History
In 1699, Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d’Iberville, a French explorer, became the first European to discover the area of present-day St. Tammany Parish. While exploring lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, Iberville wrote in his journal, "The place where I am is one of the prettiest I have seen, fine level ground bare of canes. The land north of the lakes is a country of pine trees mixed with hard woods. The soil is sandy and many tracks of buffalo and deer can be seen."
St. Tammany was originally inhabited by numerous Indian peoples, including the: Colapissas, Bayou Goulas, Chickasaw, Biloxi, Choctaw, and Pensacola nations (although, Frederick S. Ellis, in his book St. Tammany Parish: L’autre Côté du Lac, claims that the regionally prominent Choctaw tribe did not arrive to the area until after it had begun to be settled by Europeans).
After the founding and development of New Orleans, French settlers began to enter the region. Their primary industry was the production of pitch, tar, turpentine and resin from the forests.
After the French were defeated in the Seven Years War, St. Tammany (like the surrounding regions of the Florida Parishes) became part of English West Florida. Then, after Britain was defeated in the American Revolution, West Florida was governed by the Spanish. During the West Florida period, St. Tammany, like the rest of West Florida, attracted British loyalists who wanted to escape persecution in the 13 colonies. The West Florida period ended with the West Florida Revolt, which preceded West Florida's annexation by the United States.
In 1810, President James Madison claimed West Florida as part of Louisiana and sent William C.C. Claiborne to claim the territory. Claiborne established the boundaries of the Florida Parishes, including St. Tammany. St. Tammany was named after Indian Chief Tamanend.[1]
Before 1834, there were only two towns in St. Tammany: Covington, a retreat with summer homes and hotels; and Madisonville, a shipbuilding and sawmill town. Mandeville was developed that year as a resort for New Orleanians and became an immediate success, spurring the development of another resort community, Abita Springs. A railroad connected the towns to Mandeville and further to New Orleans, allowing for a burgeoning of growth in Abita Springs, where underground spring waters furnished supposedly healthful baths for public use.
After the construction of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Interstate 12 and Interstate 10, people began to relocate to St. Tammany in large numbers.
In 1986, the Abita Brewing Company was founded in Abita Springs.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census² of 2000, there were 191,268 people, 69,253 households, and 52,701 families residing in the parish. The population density was 86/km² (224/mi²). There were 75,398 housing units at an average density of 34/km² (88/mi²). The racial makeup of the parish was 87.03% White, 9.90% Black or African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.61% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races. 2.48% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 69,253 households out of which 39.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.40% were married couples living together, 11.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.90% were non-families. 19.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the parish the population was spread out with 28.40% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 24.30% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.40 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $47,883, and the median income for a family was $55,346. Males had a median income of $41,876 versus $25,996 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $22,514. About 7.60% of families and 9.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.80% of those under age 18 and 10.10% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Cities and towns
[edit] Education
St. Tammany Parish Schools operate the public schools in the parish.
[edit] Growth
Until the Civil Rights Movement began heating up across Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans around the late 1950s, St. Tammany Parish had remained mostly rural. Population and Economic growth took off in 1956 when the first span of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway bridge was completed. The parish became a magnet for the wealthy elite seeking to get out of New Orleans, and, since that time, has remained by far the fastest growing, safest, and wealthiest parish in the metropolitan area. The population soared past the 200,000 mark immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
