De Soto

Formed February 24, 1843 (39^th parish)

De Soto Parish (26,809), Mansfield (4,713)

A governmental Beaux Arts and Classical Revival facility built in 1911 serves as the courthouse for De Soto Parish.  The structure is located on a city block on Washington and Texas Streets.  United States Highway 171 passes on the west side of the courthouse.  An Administration building sets next to the courthouse.  An 1850 courthouse was also located in Mansfield.  De Soto Parish was created on February 24, 1843 from parts of Caddo and Natchitoches parishes as the 39^th parish.  Favrot and Livaudais are the architects of this brown brick and concrete building.  The county seat is presumably named for a settler.  The parish’s namesake was the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto. 

De Soto Parish government consists of a President, a sheriff, a clerk, a treasurer, and a coroner (executive).  It has 11 Police Jury Members (legislative.)  Two District Court Judge and Six Justice Court Judges serve De Soto Parish (judicial.) The parish is located just south of Shreveport, Louisiana on the border with Texas.  The Sabine River forms the southwest border with Texas and the Red River forms the eastern border.  The parish center is 2.9 miles East-Northeast of Mansfield.  The parish is surrounded clockwise by Caddo, Red River, Natchitoches, and Sabine parishes and Texas. 

The area of the parish is 895 square miles.  It is 19 out of 64 in the state.  It ranks 36 out of 64 in population in the state.  It has a density of 30.0 persons per square mile making it 43 out of 64 in the state.  De Soto Parish has 34.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 49 enters from Caddo Parish to the north and exits into Natchitoches Parish to the southeast.  United States Highway 84 crosses east to west from Red River Parish into Texas.  United States Highway 171 transits from Caddo Parish into Sabine Parish, south.  An overall rectangular shape with bulges to the north and southeast and a cutoff in the southwest is the best description of the parish.  Mansfield is slightly south of center.  Mansfield is the parish seat and the largest city.  It is 17.6% of the parish population.  The parish is pronounced DE SOE-TOE.  This parish is in the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.