Difference between revisions of "Alexandria, Louisiana"

Revision as of 17:24, October 10, 2019

Alexandria is the largest city in central Louisiana and the seat of Rapides Parish, with a 2010 population of 47,723, an increase of 3 percent over the 2000 tabulation. Separated from its neighboring city of Pineville by the Red River, Alexandria is located near the geographic center of Louisiana. The city is majority African American in population. Alexandria is the eleventh largest incorporated municipality in the state, with Monroe at tenth place though the two have roughly the same central city population.

Downtown Alexandria, which lies near Interstate 49, has undergone extensive redevelopment in the past decade. Alexandria contains many churches of multiple denominations, some quite large in membership.

Though Alexandria is heavily Democratic in political orientation, Rapides Parish often votes Republican. Part of Alexandria is represented in the state House by the Republican Lance Harris, who took office early in 2012. Rapides Parish is within the Fifth Congressional District represented by Republican Ralph Abraham, a medical doctor from Richland Paris and a 2019 candidate for governor.

Alexandria is named for a Pennsylvania businessman, Alexander Fulton, who established a settlement in the area in the 1790s. The town was incorporated in 1819 and received a charter in 1832.

The current city charter was implemented in 1977. Democrat Jeff Hall is the mayor, the first Africa-American in that position. John K. Snyder, a controversial, colorful political figure known for his sharp tongue and wit, was the mayor from 1973 to 1977 and again from 1982 to 1986. Snyder's first predecessor, Ed Karst, had an equally controversial political career.

Notable people

• Ray R. Allen, municipal secretary-treasurer and finance director
• John Alley, Southern Baptist clergyman
• Champ Baker, executive director of the Kisatchie-Delta Regional Planning Commission and advocate for veterans' causes
• Schuyler Batson, Southern Baptist clergyman
• Cecil R. Blair, state representative and state senator from 1950 to 1970s
• Jean Boese, former Louisiana poet laureate and Republican national committeewoman
• Arna Bontemps, writer of the Harlem Renaissance.
• W. George Bowdon, Jr., mayor from 1953 to 1969.
• Hymie Bradford, sports announcer for Louisiana College and LSU-Alexandria
• James J. Brady, federal judge
• Glenn Bryant, clergyman and driving force behind the Renaissance Youth Rehabilitation Home
• John Cade, businessman and Republican state chairman, 1976-1978
• Brent Caplan, businessman
• W. A. "Dub" Carruth, developer
• William A. Culpepper, state district and circuit court judge
• Nelder Dawson, newspaper executive
• Helen Derr, journalist and co-founder of Friendship House in Alexandria
• Jam Downs, district attorney from 2000 to 2015
• Brian Duke, businessman and Rapides police juror
• Samuel Dunbar, businessman
• B. G. Dyess, Baptist pastor and one-term state senator
• John Fellers, United Methodist clergyman
• George M. Foote, Alexandria city court judge
• Sylvan Fox, radio station founder, KSYL
• Joe Fryar, architect
• Camille Gravel, attorney and Democratic political activist
• Edgar Hathorn, businessman and Rapides Parish police juror
• Malcolm Hébert, engineer and last of the Alexandria streets and parks commissioners with service from 1973 to 1977
• Guy Humphries, judge of the 9th Judicial District Court, 1960 to 1981
• Adras LaBorde, political columnist with The Alexandria Town Talk
• John LaPlante, Jr., journalist
• Ed Larvadain, state representative
• Gillis Long, U.S. Representative, 1963-1965; 1973-1985
• Roy O. Martin, Jr., timber businessman
• O'Hearn Mathews, city marshal; commissioner of streets and parks from 1969 to 1973
• Joe McPherson, state senator from 1984-1996 and 2000-2012, businessman
• DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr., attorney
• Fred Redwine, long-term justice of the peace for Ward 11 in Rapides Parish
• Arnold Jack Rosenthal, last of the Alexandria finance and utilities commissioners (1973-1977)
• Jock Scott, state representative from 1976 to 1988
• Alfred Shapiro, attorney, later director of the American Civil Liberties Union
• Charles Slay, Rapides Parish tax assessor, 1974 to 1996
• Joe D. Smith, Jr., publisher of The Town Talk from 1962 to 1996
• Thomas James Spencer, Southern Baptist clergyman
• T. F. Tenney, Pentecostal clergyman
• Morris Taft Thomas, African-American metal sculptor
• Gus Voltz, attorney
• Irving Ward-Steinman, attorney and radio station owner.
• Ed Ware, district attorney, 1967 to 1984
• Joanne White, philanthropist
• Paul D. White, Sr., entrepreneurial real estate developer who constructed many of the housing and apartment complexes in Rapides Parish
• Cecil Williams, business journalist at The Town Talk

Despite the Democratic heritage of Alexandria, in the special election held on March 24, 2018, four Republican candidates collectively polled 63 percent of the ballots cast. The two top vote-getters, interim Marshal "Ricky" Rachal, a Democrat, and Republican Jerome Hopewell, then contested a runoff election on April 28. Fewer than 16 percent of voters cast ballots^[1] in each election. Hopewell emerged a 51-49 percent winner over Rachal. The position opened when the incumbent, Terence Grines, resigned.^[2]

References