Bunkie, Louisiana
Avoyelles Parish
22-10950
Bunkie is a small town ( with a status of "City" ) in Avoyelles Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. In 2010 Bunkie had 4171 inhabitants.
Geography
Bunkie is located in central Louisiana, about 20 km south of the Red River and about 50 km west of its confluence with the Atchafalaya. The geographical coordinates of 30 ° 57'13 Bunkie are " north latitude and 92 ° 11'08 " west longitude. The city covers an area of 6.97 km ².
Neighbouring places of Bunkie are Hessmer ( 18.5 km NNE ), Evergreen (7.4 miles west), Cottonport (15,9 km in the same direction), Morrow (17,1 km southeast), Cheneyville (13,6 km northwest ) and echo (25,2 km north-northwest ).
The nearest large towns are the capital of Mississippi Jackson (322 km northeast), Louisiana's capital Baton Rouge (132 km southeast), Louisiana's largest city of New Orleans ( 253 km in the same direction), Lafayette ( 92.1 km to the south), Beaumont, Texas (240 km west-southwest ) and Shreveport (252 km north-west ).
Traffic
U.S. Highway 71 in northwest-southeast direction as the main road through Bunkie, where it meets the Louisiana Highways 29 and 115 All other roads are minor roads, some unpaved roadways and within local roads.
In parallel to U.S. 71 runs a railroad line of the Union Pacific Railroad in the direction of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. From these branches a range of Acadiana Railway, a Class III railroad, from the south.
The nearest airports are the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (126 km southeast), the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (239 km in the same direction) and the Jackson - Evers International Airport (336 km northeast).
History and Economics
The city was founded in 1882 under the name Irion of Colonel AM Haas, after Colonel EB Wheelock had made with Green & Brogan a contract, the route of the New Orleans and Pacific Railway (later the Texas and Pacific Railway ) to extend through this part of the state. The city was renamed from Colonel Haas after his daughter Maccie that run just learned a toy monkey ( english: Monkey) designated as Bunkie, which was only to her nickname, and then the official name of the city.
The further development of the city was heavily influenced by the rich alluvial soils in the area, which allowed the cultivation of cotton, sugar cane and corn. In the city, a medium-sized industry, in which the products of agriculture were processed arose.
In Bunkie there are a number of buildings, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ( NRHP), and thus are under monument protection. These include the Bailey Hotel and The Bailey Theatre, both built by Robert Lee Bailey during the first half of the 20th century in the style of " Classical Revival " and the Texas and Pacific Railroad Depot. (See NRHP entries in Avoyelles Parish )
Constructed in 1852, Edwin Epps House is also a listed building. It belonged to the plantation owners and slaveholders Edwin Epps, and was by his slave Solomon Northup (1808-1863) built shortly before he fled, a free black man who was kidnapped as a young man in the northern states and sold as a slave. He escaped with the help of a Canadian, and published in 1853 a book entitled "Twelve Years a Slave" on his fate. The house is now a museum and tells the story of the two men.
Population
According to the census in 2010 lived in Bunkie 4171 people in 1624 households. The population density was 598.4 inhabitants per square kilometer. In 1624 households lived statistically 2.53 per person.
The racial the population was composed of 40.1 percent white, 57.2 percent African American, 0.6 percent Native American, 0.5 percent Asian and 0.5 percent from other ethnic groups; 1.1 percent were descended from two or more races. Regardless of ethnicity, 2.0 percent of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
26.0 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 57.3 percent were between 18 and 64 and 16.7 percent were 65 years or older. 53.5 percent of the population was female.
The median annual income for a household was $ 24,359. The per capita income was $ 16,341. 36.1 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Zutty Singleton (1898-1975), drummer of New Orleans Jazz
- Don Hines, Democratic State Senator and President of the Louisiana State Senate