Webster Parish

Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish Courthouse in Minden (dedicated May 1, 1953) was a project of the contractor George A. Caldwell.
Location in the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location in the U.S.
Founded	1871
Named for	Daniel Webster
Seat	Minden
Largest city	Minden
Area
• Total	615 sq mi (1,593 km2)
• Land	593 sq mi (1,536 km2)
• Water	22 sq mi (57 km2), 3.5%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	40,021
• Density	69/sq mi (27/km²)
Congressional district	4th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.websterparishla.org/index.html

Webster Parish (French: Paroisse de Webster) is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,207. The seat of the parish is Minden.

The parish is named for 19th-century American statesman Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It was created on February 27, 1871 from lands formerly belonging to Bienville, Bossier, and Claiborne parishes.

Webster Parish is part of the Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Among the first settlers in Webster Parish was Newett Drew, a native of Virginia, who about 1818 established a grist mill at the former Overton community near Minden. At this time the area was Natchitoches Parish and later Overton became the Parish Seat of Claiborne Parish in 1836 until it moved in 1848. His son, Richard Maxwell Drew was born in Overton and served as a district judge state representative prior to his death in 1850 at the age of twenty-eight. R. M. Drew's descendants held judicial or legislative positions in Webster Parish as well, Richard Cleveland Drew, Harmon Caldwell Drew, R. Harmon Drew, Sr., and Harmon Drew, Jr.