Greenwood, Louisiana

Greenwood was established by European Americans in 1839 after the forced Indian Removal of the Caddo people to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) west of the Mississippi River.

During the Civil War Battle of Mansfield in April 1864, Confederate wounded were treated at the historic Dunn House built in the 1840s. It is now located next to the Greenwood Town Hall on Highway 80. Several other historic houses located in Greenwood, including the Trosper House, have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

As in the rest of Louisiana, most blacks were disenfranchised from the turn of the 20th century into the 1960s, and the state was dominated by white Democrats. Caddo Parish Sheriff J. Howell Flournoy, who served a record 26 years in office from 1940–1966, was born in Greenwood in 1891 and was part of the political Flournoy dynasty.[5]

On March 3, 1964, Owen Dickson Adams (January 13, 1926 – April 18, 2017) of Greenwood and B. F. O'Neal, Jr., of Shreveport, later a state representative, were elected as Republicans to the historically Democratic-dominated Caddo Parish Commission. It was then known as the police jury, equivalent to the county commission in other states.[6] This was in a period of considerable cultural change as the Civil Rights Movement was underway; the federal Civil Rights Act was passed later in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Blacks had been disenfranchised in Louisiana since the turn of the century, when passage of a new constitution included barriers to voter registration. White Democrats then began to join the Republican Party.

Adams served on the police jury until 1976; O'Neal until 1968, when Adams won his second term. He was the only Republican in Caddo Parish that year to win an election.[7] An engineer with Spectra Energy, then known as Texas Eastern, Adams relocated to Houston, Texas. On retirement, he returned to Greenwood and subsequently served twelve years as mayor and three terms on the city council. He died at the age of ninety-one and is interred at Forest Park West Cemetery in Shreveport.[8]

Earnest Lampkins (1928-2018), a native of Shreveport, earned a PhD and had a career as a music educator. He taught music at all levels, becoming supervisor of music for Caddo Parish. He founded the Louisiana School of Professions.[9] In 2004, Lampkins was elected as the first black mayor of Greenwood, where he had long been active in the community. On December 30, 2006, Gerald Washington, elected as the first black mayor of the small southwest town of Westlake, Louisiana, was found dead of a gunshot. The death was ruled a suicide, but his family and others believed it was a racially motivated murder. Less than two weeks later, Lampkins reported that shots were fired into his house. During his term, he continued to receive threats. Someone also installed a “for sale” sign outside his house.[10][11]

Greenwood is located in western Caddo Parish at 32°26′10″N 93°57′50″W (32.436051, -93.963902).[12] Greenwood Road (U.S. Routes 80 and 79) is the main route through the center of town. Interstate 20 passes through the northern part of the town, with access from exits 3 and 5. Downtown Shreveport is 15 miles (24 km) to the east, and Waskom, Texas, is 6 miles (10 km) to the west. Carthage, Texas, is 31 miles (50 km) to the southwest down U.S. 79. Greenwood is approximately 165 miles east of Dallas, Texas, and about 290 miles northwest of New Orleans

According to the United States Census Bureau, Greenwood has a total area of 9.0 square miles (23.3 km²), of which 0.02 square miles (0.04 km²), or 0.19%, is water.[3]

As of the census[14] of 2000, there were 2,458 people, 964 households, and 701 families residing in the town. The population density was 315.5 people per square mile (121.8/km²). There were 1,036 housing units at an average density of 133.0 per square mile (51.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 77.01% White, 20.63% African American, 0.41% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.45% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.79% of the population.

There were 964 households out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the town, the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $40,408, and the median income for a family was $52,955. Males had a median income of $38,750 versus $26,622 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,374. About 9.3% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over.

2018's census estimates placed the population at 3,199.[4] The racial makeup of the town in 2018 was 54.8% non-Hispanic white, 36.1% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.9% from two or more races, and 4.3% Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 1,509 housing units in 2018 and the median income was $60,809. The mean income was $91,984, making Greenwood one of the wealthiest communities within the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area.[15]

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  Greenwood welcome sign
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  First Baptist Church
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  First United Methodist Church in Greenwood
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  The Cedars House, built about 1850 by Eli Jenkins, is named for the cedar trees on the lot.
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  The Dunn House, a hospital for wounded Confederates, now serves as headquarters of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce.
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  The Trosper House in Greenwood, the second family house at this site, was built in 1910 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

• Town of Greenwood official website