# Union Parish, Louisiana

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. The parish seat is Farmerville. 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).
Union Parish is part of the Monroe, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

## Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 905 square miles (2,340 km$^2$), of which 877 square miles (2,270 km$^2$) is land and 28 square miles (73 km$^2$) (3.1%) is water.
Geographically north central Louisiana, Union Parish more closely resembles Lincoln Parish, to which Union is deeply tied culturally, politically, and educationally. 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.

### Major highways

* U.S. Highway 63
* U.S. Highway 167
* Louisiana Highway 2
* Louisiana Highway 15
* Louisiana Highway 33

### Adjacent parishes and counties

* Union County, Arkansas (northwest)
* Ashley County, Arkansas (northeast)
* Morehouse Parish (east)
* Ouachita Parish (southeast)
* Lincoln Parish (southwest)
* Claiborne Parish (west)

### National protected areas

* D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge (part)
* Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge (part)

## Communities
### Towns

* Bernice
* Farmerville (parish seat and largest municipality)
* Marion

### Villages

* Conway
* Downsville
* Junction City
* Lillie
* Spearsville

### Unincorporated communities

* Alabama Landing
* Oakland
* Ouachita City
* Point
* Shiloh
* Truxno

## Demographics

Union Parish racial composition as of 2020 :
| Race | Number | Percentage |
| White (non-Hispanic) | 14,289 | 67.7% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 4,980 | 23.59% |
| Native American | 59 | 0.28% |
| Asian | 38 | 0.18% |
| Pacific Islander | 6 | 0.03% |
| Other/Mixed | 600 | 2.84% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 1,135 | 5.38% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 21,107 people, 7,582 households, and 4,899 families residing in the parish.

## Politics

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.
United States presidential election results for Union Parish, Louisiana :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | 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% |

## School

Residents are assigned to Union Parish Public Schools.

## Law enforcement

The Union Parish Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency of Union Parish, Louisiana. It is headquartered in Farmerville. The current 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.

## Border monument

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.

## Notable people

Two Louisiana governors came from the Shiloh Community in Union Parish:
* William Wright Heard, 1900–1904
* Ruffin Pleasant, 1916-1920
Two Arkansas governors were natives of Union Parish:
* George Washington Donaghey, Governor of Arkansas from 1909 to 1913
* Tom Jefferson Terral, Governor of Arkansas from 1925 to 1927
Other Union Parish residents have included:
* Lonnie O. Aulds, state representative from 1968 to 1972
* George Washington Bolton (1841-1931), state representative from 1888 to 1896 from Alexandria
* Jay McCallum - Chief Judge of the Louisiana 3rd Judicial District Court
* Robert Roberts Jr. state representative and state district judge
* James Peyton Smith, state representative
* Lee Emmett Thomas, Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representative