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History · Plain Dealing

Plain Dealing’s post office opened in 1888

Most of Plain Dealing was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1921 on and the census since 1900.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Billy Hathorn assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Plain Dealing began

When was Plain Dealing founded?

1888

The Plain Dealing post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 258 in 19002020 census: 893138 years
Founding year: the first Plain Dealing post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Plain Dealing’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Plain Dealing are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,412 in 1930; 893 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Plain Dealing’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plain Dealing’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Plain Dealing, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,412

Peaked at 1,412 in 1930; 893 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Plain Dealing’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Plain Dealing came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Plain Dealing.

Read it all →

In 1839, George Oglethorpe Gilmer and his son, James Blair Gilmer, bought 5,000 acres of this land—then described as a "vast, unsettled wilderness"—from the United States government, calling a portion of this acreage "Plain Dealing" after the family's Virginia plantation. The "Plain Dealing" name became official when the town was formally chartered on April 24, 1890.

On March 26, 1893, during an evening school dance at Plain Dealing High School, a fight broke out. Two students were shot and killed immediately, two more were fatally wounded, and an instructor was wounded.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Plain Dealing, 1888 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Plain Dealing post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereA. P. Tugwell is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1918Born hereJoe Waggonner is born here
  6. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,412
  7. 1938Born hereBobby Smith is born here
  8. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1963Born hereGreg Stumon is born here
By decade

Plain Dealing, decade by decade

Today9 recent
A cotton field outside Plain Dealing, a small town in northwest Louisiana's Bossier Parish2020A cotton field outside Plain Dealing, a small town in…Historical mural sponsored by a local pharmacy2020Historical mural sponsored by a local pharmacyThe Plain Dealing Baptist Church2020The Plain Dealing Baptist ChurchRevised Plain Dealing, LA, sign IMG 51632011Revised Plain Dealing, LA, sign IMG 5163Downtown Plain Dealing, LA IMG 51642011Downtown Plain Dealing, LA IMG 5164Plain Dealing sign IMG 14562008Plain Dealing sign IMG 1456Plain Dealing Cemetery IMG 14622008Plain Dealing Cemetery IMG 1462Grave of Joe D. Waggonner IMG 14602008Grave of Joe D. Waggonner IMG 1460LAMap-doton-Plain Dealing2004LAMap-doton-Plain Dealing
On the map

Plain Dealing on the map, 1950 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plain Dealing. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Plain Dealing on the 1950 USGS mapPlain Dealing on the 1981 USGS map1950Plain Dealing NW sheet · 1:31,680

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Plain Dealing.

Every building

Plain Dealing, building by building, 1921

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Plain Dealing fire insurance map, 1921, sheet 11921Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Plain Dealing

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Joe WaggonnerAmerican politician · b. 1918
A. P. TugwellAmerican politician · b. 1889
B
Bobby SmithAmerican football player · b. 1938
G
Greg StumonPlayer of American and Canadian football · b. 1963

Questions about Plain Dealing’s history

What year was Plain Dealing founded?

The Plain Dealing post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.