Walker

History

The area now known as Walker was founded by Michael Joseph Milton, Jr. (1795-1863) and “several slaves” in 1825. Michael Milton married in 1832 in Livingston Parish. He and his wife, Martha Clark Milton (1803-1878) developed 343 acres from a Land Grant for his service in the War of 1812. The Milton family was a pioneering family from North Carolina and a first family in Virginia who settled in an area in Alabama, and in Florida before establishing the new community in the piney woods east of the Amite River and Denham Springs. In this sense, Walker, Louisiana, by virtue of its establishment, traces its roots to the founding of the nation in Jamestown, Virginia. The "Old Field" part of the original name referred to the open, cleared land that was suitable for grazing cattle and early community gatherings after the Miltons settled there. Michael Milton was appointed as postmaster in 1858. In 1890, the post office was renamed after Dr. William Elliott Walker, M.D., a legislator from nearby Springfield, who had also served as a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate States of America. Walker became a city in 2011, by proclamation of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Geography

Walker is located at (30.489423, -90.862872). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.8 square miles (14.9 km), all land. The city is located roughly 20 miles east of Baton Rouge, the Louisiana State Capitol.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,594
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,552
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  5,472
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  5,062
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,167
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,164
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,852
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,551

Most recent

• M 3 — 2010-08-02
  16 km ESE of Clinton, Louisiana
• M 3 — 2005-12-20
  9 km ESE of French Settlement, Louisiana