Jefferson

History

Almost every commercial building and house on the main arterial road in Jefferson has a historic marker. Early records indicate that Jefferson was founded around 1841 on land ceded from the Caddo Indians. At that time, a log jam more than 100 miles long existed on the Red River north of present Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Indians said that this log jam, known as the Great Red River Raft, had always existed. The Red River Raft (or Great Raft) acted as a dam on the river and raised the level of Caddo Lake and the Red River several feet. This rise of Caddo Lake and the corresponding rise in the Big Cypress Bayou at Jefferson permitted commercial riverboat travel to Jefferson from ports such as St. Louis and New Orleans via the Mississippi and Red Rivers. Jefferson was one of the most important ports in Texas between 1845 and 1872. The town reached its peak population just a few years after the Civil War and is reported to have exceeded 30,000. During this time, Jefferson was the sixth-largest town in Texas. Attempts were made over the years to remove the raft and permit the normal flow of the Red River, but they were unsuccessful until the discovery of nitroglycerin. In 1873, using nitroglycerin, the Army Corps of Engineers was finally able to clear the raft from the Red River. This lowered the level of Caddo Lake and Big Cypress to the extent that riverboat traffic to Jefferson was no longer commercially feasible. At the peak of river traffic, Jefferson had a population of over 7,000. A few years later, it had dropped to a little over 3,000. The Sterne Fountain was given to the city in 1913 to honor the contribution of Jacob and Ernestine Sterne, a Jewish couple who settled in Jefferson before the Civil War and became prominent citizens who managed the post office…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which (1.58%) is covered by water. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Jefferson has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,322
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,295
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,192
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,070
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,032
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  933
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  926
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  909

Most recent

• M 3.5 — 2025-01-18
  0 km WSW of Mooringsport, Louisiana
• M 3 — 2025-01-06
  4 km ESE of Mooringsport, Louisiana
• M 2.9 — 2024-12-22
  7 km WSW of Mooringsport, Louisiana
• M 3.1 — 2024-12-20
  7 km S of Mooringsport, Louisiana
• M 2.6 — 2024-12-19
  9 km SW of Mooringsport, Louisiana
• M 3.1 — 2024-12-19
  2 km S of Mooringsport, Louisiana