Prior to 1839, the United States government forcibly removed the Caddo Nation of Native Americans—longtime local inhabitants who had first settled the area over 1,000 years before Europeans' 16th-century arrival in mainland North America—from the area of Northern Louisiana that included the parcel that would later become the town of Plain Dealing.[4]
In 1839, George Oglethorpe Gilmer and his son, James Blair Gilmer, bought 5,000 acres of this land—then described as a "vast, unsettled wilderness"—from the United States government, calling a portion of this acreage "Plain Dealing" after the family's Virginia plantation.[4][5] The "Plain Dealing" name became official when the town was formally chartered on April 24, 1890.[4]
On March 26, 1893, during an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. Two students were shot and killed immediately, two more were fatally wounded, and the high school's Professor Johnson was wounded in the arm.[6]
Geography
Plain Dealing is 8 miles (13 km) south of the Arkansas border and 31 miles (50 km) north of Shreveport.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), of which 0.004 square miles (0.01 km2), or 0.26%, is water.[7]
Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Plain Dealing has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Plain Dealing was 114 °F (45.6 °C) on August 10, 1936, while the coldest temperature recorded was −14 °F (−25.6 °C) on February 13, 1899.[8] The record high temperature is also the highest temperature ever recorded in Louisiana.[9]
Climate data for Plain Dealing, Louisiana, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1892–1999
White and black students had separate K-12 schools, under educational segregation in the United States. White students went to Plain Dealing High School, then K-12, while black students went to Carrie Martin High School, a K-12 school established in 1952 by its namesake. In 1969 the white and black schools were consolidated into a single school with two campuses, later separated into Plain Dealing Elementary School and Plain Dealing High School. The elementary school was renamed Carrie Martin Elementary School in 2003.[16] In 2017 the district announced that it will merge Martin Elementary into Plain Dealing High, and stop using the former elementary facility.[17]
^Huffman, Booker T with Andrew William Wright (2012). Booker T: From Prison to Promise: Life Before the Squared Circle. Aurora, Ill: Medallion Press. ISBN978-1605424682.
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