Washington Parish, Louisiana

Washington Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, about 65 miles north of New Orleans. It had a population of 45,463 at the 2020 census, an estimated 44,937 by 2025, and covers 676 square miles (1,751 km2) centred near 30°51′N 90°02′W.

Franklinton is the parish seat; its postal code is 70438. The parish holds one city, one incorporated town, two chartered villages and one census-designated place, plus 15 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 22117.

Towns & Villages in Washington Parish

Washington Parish has 21 named places on record: five incorporated or census-recognized places and 15 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census-designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural settlements with no formal boundary.

Angie and Varnado are chartered as villages under Louisiana law, the smallest class of incorporated municipality in the state; the table above lists them as Town for consistency with the rest of this site. Rio first appeared as a census-designated place in the 2020 census — before that count, the parish had no CDP within its borders. Dyson, once a working sawmill settlement northwest of Franklinton, is now recorded as a former place; the name still marks the site even though its post office and rail siding are gone.

ZIP Codes

• 70427 — Bogalusa
• 70438 — Franklinton (Pine, a few miles west, also uses this code)
• 70467 — Varnado
• 70450 — Mount Hermon

Angie, Rio, and the parish’s other small unincorporated communities — Bickham, Cumnock, Dyson, Enon, Hackley, Isabel, Lees Creek, Plainview, Porters Curve, Stoney Point, Sunny Hill, Thomas, Warnerton and Zona — have no ZIP code of their own; mail is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Washington Parish sits in Louisiana’s Florida Parishes, a belt of piney upland east of the Mississippi River that was never part of the Louisiana Purchase. Of its 676 square miles, 670 are land and 6.4 are water, under one percent — modest for a parish crossed by two rivers. The Pearl River runs along part of the parish’s eastern edge on the Mississippi state line, and the Bogue Chitto River cuts north to south through the middle, passing near Franklinton on its way into St. Tammany Parish. The Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge and Bogue Chitto State Park both sit along its banks.

Pike County, Walthall County and Marion County, Mississippi, border the parish to the north and northeast; Pearl River County, Mississippi, borders it to the east; St. Tammany Parish borders it to the south; and Tangipahoa Parish borders it to the west. Pike County, Walthall County and Marion County in Mississippi, Pearl River County, Mississippi, St. Tammany Parish and Tangipahoa Parish all border Washington Parish directly.

Demographics

Washington Parish had a population of 45,463 at the 2020 census, down from 47,168 in 2010, and the latest Census Bureau estimate puts it at 44,937 for 2025 — a slow decline that has continued since the mill-era population peak. Bogalusa and Franklinton are the parish’s two largest communities, together holding roughly a third of its residents. The parish’s median household income is $45,380, well below Louisiana’s statewide figure of $58,229 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 68 people per square mile of land, low even for rural Louisiana, reflecting decades of population loss as the timber and paper industries shed jobs.

Economy & Local Life

Washington Parish’s economy has run on timber and paper since the early 1900s, when the Great Southern Lumber Company built what was then the largest sawmill in the world at Bogalusa. Temple-Inland Corporation, successor to that mill’s later paper and chemical operations, remains among the parish’s largest private employers, and International Paper runs a corrugated-fiberboard plant in Bogalusa with roughly 425 workers. Health care and social assistance now employs more people than any other sector, about 2,954 workers, followed by retail trade at 2,207 and construction at 1,432. Northshore Technical Community College operates a campus in Bogalusa. Agriculture, particularly watermelon farming, remains a visible part of the parish’s economy outside the two main towns. The Washington Parish Free Fair, held in Franklinton each October, calls itself the largest free fair in the United States and the second-largest parish or county fair in Louisiana.

History

The Louisiana legislature created Washington Parish in 1819 by splitting it off from St. Tammany Parish, and named it for President George Washington. Franklinton was designated the parish seat on February 10, 1821.

In the early 1900s, brothers Frank and Charles Goodyear bought hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin longleaf pine forest in the parish and built the Great Southern Lumber Company’s sawmill at Bogalusa, then the largest sawmill in the world. The mill town grew fast enough that Bogalusa itself was incorporated in 1914, though company housing was segregated by Jim Crow law even as the company built schools, churches and a YMCA for its workers. The sawmill closed in 1938 once the old-growth timber ran out, though papermaking continued for decades under later owners.

On June 2, 1965, Oneal Moore, the first Black deputy in the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed in a drive-by attack while on patrol near Varnado. The case was never solved. B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center, a state prison, now operates near the village of Varnado.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Washington Parish. Louisiana Highways 10, 16, 21 and 25 carry most of the parish’s through traffic.

• New Orleans — about 61 miles south
• Covington — about 30 miles south
• Slidell — about 35 miles southeast
• Hattiesburg, Mississippi — about 45 miles northeast

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, roughly 70 miles south of Franklinton, is the nearest major commercial airport; Bogalusa’s own George R. Carr Memorial Air Field handles general aviation only. Amtrak’s Crescent line makes a request stop in Picayune, Mississippi, about 30 miles east of Bogalusa, connecting toward New Orleans and, in the other direction, Hattiesburg and Meridian.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Washington Parish located?
It sits in Louisiana’s Florida Parishes, about 65 miles north of New Orleans, bordered by three Mississippi counties, St. Tammany Parish and Tangipahoa Parish.

What is the population of Washington Parish?
45,463 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 44,937.

How big is Washington Parish?
676 square miles (1,751 km2), of which 670 square miles are land.

What is the parish seat of Washington Parish?
Franklinton, designated the parish seat in 1821, is the parish’s second-largest incorporated place.

How many towns and villages are in Washington Parish?
One city (Bogalusa), one incorporated town (Franklinton), two chartered villages (Angie and Varnado), one census-designated place (Rio), and 15 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Washington Parish use?
70427 for Bogalusa, 70438 for Franklinton and Pine, 70467 for Varnado, and 70450 for Mount Hermon.

What is Washington Parish known for?
The Great Southern Lumber Company’s sawmill at Bogalusa, once the largest in the world, and the Washington Parish Free Fair, held in Franklinton every October.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Louisiana.