Central, Louisiana

Central, Louisiana
City
Motto: "A community that cares"[1]
Country  United States
State  Louisiana
Parish East Baton Rouge
Elevation 66 ft (20.1 m)
Coordinates 30°33′16″N 91°02′12″W / 30.55444°N 91.03667°W / 30.55444; -91.03667Coordinates: 30°33′16″N 91°02′12″W / 30.55444°N 91.03667°W / 30.55444; -91.03667
Area 62.5 sq mi (161.9 km2)
 - land 62.2 sq mi (161 km2)
 - water 0.3 sq mi (1 km2)
Population 26,864 (2010)
Density 431.6/sq mi (166.6/km2)
Mayor Junior Shelton (Republican)
 - Police Chief James Salsbury (Republican)
Timezone CST (UTC-6)
 - summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code 225
Location in East Baton Rouge Parish and the state of Louisiana.
Website: centralgov.com

Central is the thirteenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the second largest city in East Baton Rouge Parish. Central became the state's newest city in April 2005. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Central was 26,864 as of the 2010 census.[2]

History

Long an unincorporated suburb of Baton Rouge, the citizens of Central voted to incorporate as a city on April 23, 2005, despite opposition from the parish. The U.S. Postal Service allows residents to use "Central, LA" with their current ZIP code.

Former Central High School principal Shelton "Mac" Watts became the temporary mayor upon the incorporation of the city. Formal elections were held on April 1, 2006, in which voters chose incumbent Watts with 86 percent of the 18,000 votes cast.

In November 2006, the voters of the state passed a constitutional amendment authorizing the creation of the Central Community School District. The amendment authorized Central to govern its own public school system. Central operates its own police and fire departments. Other services, such as water, sewerage and trash, are still operated by the city-parish. Utilities are provided by DEMCO and Entergy.

On January 9, 2007, Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed the interim members of the new Central Community School Board. The board appointed Mike Faulk as the first superintendent. The new school system began operation on July 1, 2007.

Geography

Central is located in the east-central part of East Baton Rouge Parish. The eastern boundary follows the Amite River, which forms the border with Livingston Parish.

Louisiana Highway 408 passes through the center of Central, leading west 7 miles (11 km) to Interstate 110 in the northern part of Baton Rouge. Downtown Baton Route is 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Central. Louisiana Highway 37 passes through the eastern part of Central, leading northeast 30 miles (48 km) to Greensburg, southwest 8 miles (13 km) to Monticello, and southwest 18 miles (29 km) to Baton Rouge.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the total area of Central is 62.5 square miles (161.9 km2), of which 62.2 square miles (161.2 km2) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km2), or 0.44%, is water.[2]

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Residents are zoned to the Central Community School District.

The city's public schools are:

The schools were acquired from the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools in 2007. More information on the Central Community School System can be found at www.centralcss.org.[3]

Private schools

Private schools within Central's School District boundaries include:

"CentralSpeaks" and "Central City News" are two of the locally produced weekly newspaper(s) in Central. The Advocate is the official journal of the city.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
201026,864—
Est. 201528,295[4]5.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[5]

Notable person

References

  1. ↑ City of Central official website
  2. 1 2 "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Central city, Louisiana". American Factfinder. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.centralcss.org
  4. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Representative Barry Ivey". house.louisiana.gov. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Central City, Louisiana.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.