A Brief History of DeSoto Parish |
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In 1682 the explorer LaSalle claimed, in the name of France, all the land drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This area included about half of what is now DeSoto Parish.
Following the Louisana Purchase of 1803 the land that is now DeSoto Parish was a neutral strip and remained so after the Sabine River became the western boundry between the United States and the Republic of Texas. It became a haven for those fleeing from the law.
In the l820's communities began to develop. The first was Cow Pens and the second was Screamerville. Both are now just a part of the parish's written history. In 1835 the United States bought the land that is now DeSoto Parish from the Caddo Indians. Forty thousand dollars ($40,000) in cash or goods was to be paid in one year's time with ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to be paid annually for the next four years. In 1843 land that had been in the parishes of Caddo and Natchitoches became DeSoto Parish. The first court house, a small log structure, was built in 1843 and is now a site maintained by the DeSoto Parish Historical Society. The first jail was built in 1844. The parish seat, Mansfield, was incorporated in 1847.
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