Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a small city and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana. It covers about 4.8 square miles and had 5,065 residents in 2020.
The town is home to Paragon Casino Resort, opened in 1994 and run by the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe.
Nearby is the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site, and the city is named after Marc Eliche, a Sephardic Jewish trader from Venice who started a trading post around 1794.
After the Louisiana Purchase, Marksville appeared on maps by 1809. Eliche gave land that became Courthouse Square.
Marksville grew as a trading center for cotton plantations. In the 1800s, enslaved people were brought to the area.
Solomon Northup, a free man from New York, was kidnapped and enslaved in Louisiana. He was freed in 1853 with help from Marksville and New York officials. His memoir inspired the film 12 Years a Slave. A statue of Northup breaking free is planned for January 4, 2026.
In October 1947, fish reportedly fell from the sky in Marksville.
In 2017, a judge sentenced Justin Stafford to 40 years for the murder of Jeremy Mardis.
Geography and people: the city is about 4.1 square miles of land with a little water. In 2020, there were 2,145 households and 1,150 families.
Education: public schools are run by the Avoyelles Parish School Board; the city has two schools.
Military: the 1020th Engineer Company of the 225th Engineer Brigade is based in Marksville.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:43 (CET).