Boyce, Louisiana 4.54

Boyce is a town in northern Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,190 at the 2000 census. The community is nearly 75 percent African American.HistoryOriginally called Cotile Landing, the name was changed to Boyce in 1880, when the Texas and Pacific Railroad made Boyce its terminal point. The town was named for Judge Henry Boyce, who owned the land on which the town was located. Being of Irish descent, Boyce, and/or his son Henry Archinard Boyce, gave all the streets Irish names as he did his own plantation, Ulster, which was immediately adjacent to the town along Bayou Jeunes des Gens (Jean de Jean). The original incorporation date is not on file.GeographyBoyce is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.6sqmi, of which 0.5sqmi is land and 0.1sqmi is water.A number of small bayous, such as Bayou Jean de Jean and Bayou Helen, are located just outside the town.An island in the Red River North of the town was created with the straightening of the portion of the river next to the Town by the Army Corps of Engineers. The owners of the Island named it St. Alfred Island, after Alfred Boyce Wettermark, 1916-2010