Spotlighting Mamie Edwards Stinson McKnight

To wrap up women’s history month, this writer would like to spotlight Mamie Edwards Stinson McKnight, a Bossier Parish native who made a difference in this parish. She was born into a family of highly influential and esteemed members of the parish and married the same.

Mamie was born in Haughton, LA, in 1887 to John Ford Edwards and Hattie Wyche Edwards. However, she lived the majority of her life in Benton, LA, after moving there with her family after her father became a Bossier Parish Deputy. In 1904, Edwards was elected as the 12th Sheriff of Bossier Parish, where he served until 1920.

When it comes to law enforcement, her Grandfather, Major Robert Emmett Wyche, was the 10th Sheriff of Bossier Parish. He is recorded as the first democratic sheriff elected during reconstruction in 1878, after serving in the Civil War, until his untimely death in 1889.

As for Mamie, she is recognized as one of only two students in the first graduating class of Benton High School in 1904, in which she and Francis “Frank” Worth Scanland were also the first to be awarded diplomas during the first commencement exercise in the school’s history. Mamie attended every graduation at Benton High School until she was no longer physically able to. In 1963, the Shere Khan, Benton High School’s yearbook, was dedicated to her in honor of being in the first graduating class. At that time, she was the oldest living graduate and was affectionately called “Mamie Dear.”

Being the first female graduate of Benton High School was not the only first for Mamie. She was also the first acting postmistress for the Benton Post office from Jul. 10, 1919 until Apr. 5, 1920. By the way, did you know that March 2020 is the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Benton Post Office?

She was among the first of the women to register to vote in Bossier Parish after the 19th Amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920. Her name appeared in The Bossier Banner on Oct. 7, 1920, along with 160 other women of this parish that had registered to vote since the first woman, Mary Bixler, registered on Sept. 17, 1920.

Mamie was always involved in the community, on Aug. 28, 1913, she attended the first meeting of the Woman’s Club, The Domestic Art Club, as a charter member and as the club’s treasurer. She also served as the Chairman of the committee for constitution and bylaws for the Benton Self-Culture Club, which organized on Sept. 15, 1915.

In 1918 she served as a committee member in charge of securing a furnished workroom for the Benton Branch of the Shreveport Chapter of the American Red Cross. The group was working on knitting and sewing garments to be given to soldiers overseas, as well as hospital garments and bandages.

She loved history and her affiliations with the following groups is a testament to this fact. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution; Colonial Dames of America; United Daughters of the Confederacy; American Legion Auxiliary; and the North Louisiana Historical Society. From 1946-1951 she served as the Benton Town Secretary. She was a former member of the Bossier Parish Library Board, a member of the Benton United Methodist Church, and the Women’s Society of Christian Service.

In 1953, Mamie served as the Bossier Parish 110th Anniversary program chairman., which was “marked by talks on little known facts of historic interest which occurred in Bossier Parish.” Guest speakers included Lilla McLure and Rupert Peyton. She headed up the Benton chapter fundraising event during the 1956 Bossier Parish Cancer Fund campaign.

Mamie is among dozens of women that have made a difference in Bossier Parish, some of these women are on display in our current exhibit at the History Center. To learn more about Bossier Parish History and the women who made a difference, visit, call or email the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City. We are your Bossier Parish history repository.

As I write this, COVID-19 is rapidly changing our day to day lives. Keep an eye on our website www.bossierlibrary.org for updates on what the Bossier Parish Libraries can offer during these difficult times. If you are not able to visit the library for any reason, know that we provide access to most of our databases through our website, including the History Center’s collections database. You can access e-books, audio-books, movies, and music through these databases from your computer or phone. Please, take measures to protect yourselves and those around you that are of high risk. Be vigilant, and together we can get through this.

By: Amy Robertson

McKellar Landing Field, Forgotten History

On May 19, 1932, The Plain Dealing Lions Club discussed the possibility of founding a landing field. Suggesting that the McKellar place would be “the logical landing place for airplanes.” After the discussion, a committee was formed with H.F. Spencer, John J. Doles, and Ben E. Keeth to investigate the possibility and to report their findings at the next meeting.

After the next monthly meeting, the following announcement appeared in The Plain Dealing Progress on July 7, 1932.

“An outstanding project recently sponsored by the Lions Club of Plain Dealing, and introduced during the presidency of Mayor F.D. McKellar of the local Club, became a reality this week, when it was announced that this little city of 1200 population has followed the pace of large cities by establishing a landing field.

“The new landing field is located on the McKellar place, ideally situated one and one-half miles from town, and offers aviators a splendid landing place, and has already been used on several occasions by Earl Ricks, aviator of Stamps, who frequently visits his parents, Mr. And Mrs. E.P. Ricks, prominent citizens of Plain Dealing.”

The dedication of McKellar Landing Field took place on the morning of July 28, 1932, with the initial plane landing by Earl Ricks, Jr. of Stamps, AR with his mother, Nancy Ricks, as his passenger. “They made the trip from Stamps, about 40 miles, in 20 minutes, landing at the field in the presence of admiring spectators at 9:30 o’clock.”

On Jan. 24, 1935, an announcement appeared in The Plain Dealing Progress that the Roach Strayhan post of the American Legion would sponsor an Air Circus at the McKellar Landing Field on Sunday, Jan. 27, 1935. The show was to include a free parachute jump by Hansen over the business district of Plain Dealing at 2:00 p.m., sponsored by the local merchants. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the show was postponed.

Source: The Plain Dealing Progress Jan. 17, 1935

Finally, on Feb. 3, 1935, Gene Lee and Herb Hansen, daredevil air show performers of Texarkana, provided a stunt-filled Air Circus for the crowds in Plain Dealing. To make up for the disappointment of having to reschedule the show, they promised the readers of The Plain Dealing Progress that Lee would perform a 2000-foot parachute jump, and Hansen would drive his little red racing car through a flaming board wall at 60 miles per hour.

The Air Show was a great success and the local troop of the Boy Scouts, led by Howard A. Wheeler, arranged to sponsor another Air Circus scheduled for Sunday, Mar. 31, 1935 at McKellar Field at 1:00 p.m. The proceeds of the show would benefit the local Boy Scouts organization.

Source: "The Plain Dealing Progress" March 28, 1935

Lee stated, “the main feature of the air show at this time will be a double parachute jump from a plane at ten thousand feet in a parachute and change from one chute to another before he reaches the ground.” The show would also include a sensational stunt flying performance by Harold Bell, who was “scheduled to do everything imaginable in a small open plane.” They also had two planes on hand to carry passengers up for only 75 cents.

Mayor F.D. McKellar
1936 political campaign picture
Source: "The Plain Dealing Progress"

The owner of the field was Fred Douglas McKellar. He was a native of Bossier Parish, raised on a farm, and served our country in the first World War. McKellar served as the Mayor of Plain Dealing from 1928-1936, serving four terms as Mayor, twice he ran without opposition.

During his time as Mayor, he eliminated the town’s debt, built a new jail, exempted autos from local taxation, all while reducing the resident’s tax burden by three mills. McKellar also modernized the light and gas systems and reduced the cost of water to homes and fire insurance. And, he was apparently quite the aviation enthusiast by offering the use of his property as a landing field.

To learn more about Mayor McKellar or the history of Plain Dealing, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

Remembering Clara Ford Davis, Voting Rights Advocate

Clara Ford Davis, Feb. 20, 2006.
Photographer: Regi Butvydas
Clara Davis collection: 2012.021.001

March is Women’s History Month, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” We are also celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, which states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

In honor of Women’s History Month and celebration of these two Amendments, this writer would like to remember Clara Ford Davis for her outstanding service to the Bossier Parish community as an advocate for voting rights and human rights.

Davis was of voting age during a time when African Americans were prevented from registering to vote in Bossier Parish. In 1952, the Bossier Parish Registrar of Voters was issued an injunction by the U.S. Courts for violating the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs in the case. During the lawsuit, it was revealed that out of the 13,912 African Americans living in Bossier Parish at that time, there were none registered to vote. And for the 31 years that the Registrar of Voters had been in office thus far, she “employed, ‘consistent and patent discrimination,’” according to Judge Gaston L. Porterie, who presided over the case.

In the following Shreveport Times article written by Harry Thomas, which appeared in Nov. 26, 1997 issue, Davis shares her experience of registering to vote in Bossier Parish in 1955, three years after the injunction.

“More than four decades have passed since Clara Davis and her fellow voting rights workers walked boldly into the Bossier Parish Courthouse to have their names placed on voter registration rolls.

“Davis, who today works as Bossier voter poll commissioner, said she and members of the Bossier Parish Voters League were among the first people to register to vote during 1955.

“’ I remember it was about four of us that went to Benton to vote,’ Davis said. ‘Before we went, we had to practice how to answer the questions they would give us.

“’ We were told to sit on the floor. But that didn’t matter, we had God with us.’

“After becoming a registered voter, Davis said she did not quit fighting injustices against blacks in Bossier Parish. She said she wanted to help others become voters. ‘Things were tough back then. We took a lot of risk,’ Davis said. ‘I’ve always tried to make things better for people, I will never quit doing that.’

“In fact, Davis, who resides in Haughton, said she has dedicated her life to improving the quality of life for citizens in her community. She was a strong advocate for issues facing the defunct voters league, public education, NAACP and now the Bossier Parish Concerned Citizens group.

“Jerry Hawkins, president of the concerned citizens group, said Davis’ work as a community activist has impacted lives of citizens throughout the parish.

“’ She has been doing it for 45 years,’ Hawkins said. ‘She has been a dedicated public servant. She has never quit trying to serve this community.’

“Davis, who attends St. Paul CME church, raised six children with her husband, Shellie. In 1974, she began her work as a precinct commissioner.

“Today, Davis said her work with the concerned citizens group includes being an advocate for quality education, civil rights and encouraging others to become registered voters. She also wants to see more blacks become certified as voting poll workers.

“’ It just grieves my spirit when I see people not voting,’ she said. “I don’t understand why people will not register. We had to go through so much to vote. They don’t have to do that now.’

“John Jones, who was a charter member of the historical black voters league, said Davis is an unsung hero in voting rights and human rights in Bossier Parish.

“’ Whatever she gets, she really deserves it,’ Jones said. ‘She and I worked together for years. She has been a faithful leader in this community.”

To learn more about Clara Ford Davis and the many ways in which she gave back to the Bossier Parish community, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center. And be sure to join us in welcoming special guest speaker Carolyn Jones as she presents “Beauty and the Ballot Box: Honoring Contributions of African-American Cosmetologists in the Voter Rights Movement” on Saturday, Mar. 14 at 2 p.m., in the History Center meeting room, 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

History in the Name: Bossier Parish Cities and Towns

The Parish of Bossier is a medley of communities that includes two cities, three towns, two census-designated places, as well as several unincorporated communities. Names for these communities were inspired by the area’s physical features, given in memory of an early settler, or after an individual that made significant contributions to the development of that area.

Bossier City is the highest populated municipality in the parish, and like many other communities, it has had more than one name. The first European settlers of the Bossier City area were James and Mary Cane, who had a plantation called Elysian Grove, which was about 600 acres in size. The plantation’s port or ferry landing was known as Canes Landing, and sometime after the Cane’s opened a store near the landing, the area became known as Cane City.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, a small village was laid out by Mary Cane’s granddaughter and her husband, changing the name to Bossier City. Bossier was later incorporated as a village in 1907 by Gov. Blanchard. Bossier City was named in memory of Pierre Evariste John Baptiste Bossier, the same U.S. Congressman that Bossier Parish was named after. In 1843, he was elected to represent Louisiana’s 4th District in the Twenty-Eighth Congress, the same year that Bossier Parish was created.

General Pierre Evariste Jean Baptiste Bossier C. 1820-30.
Clifton Cardin collection:1997.065.001

Shreveport is the second city that resides in Bossier Parish, but only small portions of it. It is easy to assume that the Red River perfectly divides Caddo and Bossier Parishes, and at one time, this was true. However, over time through natural and artificial causes, the course of the river has changed. The boundaries of the two parishes were designated based on how the “Old River” ran; however, the river has moved east over the years. Making it so that areas of Shreveport seem to be in Bossier and areas of Bossier seem to be in Shreveport.

The Shreveport downtown airport, Wright Island, Shreveport Aquarium, El Dorado Casino, and the Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park are all in Shreveport, Bossier Parish, Louisiana. Boomtown Casino is in Bossier City, Caddo Parish, as well as most of Cane’s Landing, and a portion of the eastern bank of the river south of Jimmie Davis Bridge. Therefore, parts of Shreveport are in Bossier Parish, making Shreveport the other city within the parish.

Shreveport was named in honor of Captain Henry Miller Shreve, who not only made the Red River navigable in 1838, but he also made contributions to the settlement of the region. Shreveport was first called Shreve Town after the real estate brokerage firm, Shreve Town Company, in which Captain Shreve was an owner.

Captain Henry Miller Shreve by artist George
D'Almaine Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org

There are two accounts of how the town of Benton received its name. In one account, it is said that it was initially called Ben’s Town after a merchant by the name of Benjamin Looney, who was reported as being the first merchant in the area. The other account is that the town of Benton was named in honor of Thomas Hart Benton, a United States Senator from Missouri. He played a critical role in developing the west by building roads west of the Mississippi, including the road from Arkansas into Shreveport, which passed through Lewisville, Plain Dealing, and Benton operating as a stagecoach line for many years.

Daguerreotype of United States Senator Thomas Hart Benton, C. 1850.
Image courtesy of the Harvard University Library.
Source: Harvard University Library, Weissman Preservation Center
found on  https://commons.wikimedia.org

The town of Haughton, which is expected to qualify to become a city after the 2020 U.S.
Census, started as Lawrenceville. When the VS&P railroad came through in 1884, the name was changed to Haughton on Sept. 1 of that year—named after one of the original settlers, William Haughton. The Lawrence’s and Haughton’s once owned all of the lands that make up Haughton today.

William Purvis Haughton
Source: http://bebossier.com/2018/03/history-of-haughton/

Before the Civil War, there was the Plain Dealing Plantation that was operated by George Gilmer. When the Shreveport and Arkansas Railroad, commonly known as the Cotton Belt Railroad, was announced to be coming through the area in 1888, S.J. Zeigler a businessman and the husband of a Gilmer descendant that owned the Plain Dealing property, selected the property to establish a village. It was briefly known as Guernshein after a prominent railroad company stockholder, but it was soon renamed to Plain Dealing after the plantation. It was chartered in 1890 and became incorporated as a town in 1928.

George Oglethorpe Gilmer owner
of Plain Dealing Plantation
Source: ancestry.com

To learn more about these and other communities in Bossier Parish, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City.

By: Amy Robertson

This Month In Bossier Parish History

March: Through the years

March 2020:  Track and Field season beings for the Bossier Parish schools!

C.1940’s: Plain Dealing High school Track & Field Photo. Left to right, first row: Ernistine Rodgers, Bubba Wheeler, James Albright, Clayton ?, and Dwight Keoun.  Second row, left to right:  Unknown, Professor F. G. Phillips, and John Goodman.

1999.047.003 Dodson Collection

1977: Benton Varsity Track Team  Sitting: Ray Revels, Perry Carr, Rickey Hall, Rickey Saxton, Randle Harris, Lorenzo Cook. Kneeling: James Rowe, Darren Harrison, Freddy Powell, Kerry Coker, Sherman Harris, Frank McConnell, Melvin Small. Standing: Scotty Boatner, Roger Nolan, Kevin Goines, Leroy Mikle, Jerry Blake, Fred Turks

1977 Benton High Yearbook

March 13, 1950:  Waller Elementary opened its doors for the first time to almost 600 students.

Waller Elementary School

1958: Waller Elementary Yearbook

Mar. 20th: Springtime is here!

Abney Dell Scanland as a toddler gesturing at a canna lily.

1999.136.031 Flynn Collection

1963: Plain Dealing Dogwood Trail

2003.026.030    Corley Collection

Mar. 31, 1940:  The new Bossier High School was completed and will be opened to the students.

1941: Bossier High School

1999.064.043  Bossier High School Reunion book   

Davidson Collection

1941: Bossier High Graduation Class, was the first to graduate from the new school on Bearkat Drive.

First Row  L to R: Mattie Sutton Breithaupt, Clarice Hearne Foster, Mary Sue Robinson Landino, Marie Spataro Means, Mary Frances Dean, Mary Nell Young, Nora Lee Allen, Joycelyn Smith, Lois Holbrooke Saunders, Patricia Bransford Tennison, Betty Jane Tremaine, Daisy Brown McKim, Doris Parker, Rosemary Neal Hawkland, Claude Booker, Beulah Sykes Paul, Ardis Jackson Brown, Wade Smith, James Bolin, and Joe Lodestro

Second Row: Annabelle Morrison, Tillie Rose Broussard Stoer, Margaret Harrell White, Dorothy Williams Cathy, Margaret Erickkson Parker, Eunice Holt Hilborn, Rosemary Terracina, Anna Laura Spilker, Bon Ava Barnes Moore, Mona Jean Porter Sewell, Buster Wilder, Buster Revels, James Bond, Herbert Nelson, John Balke, J.L. Thomas, Billy Tibbits

Third Row: Nathan Kelly, Frances Holden, Dorothy Little Knapp,  Imogene Johnson Gaiennie, Margaret Stewart, Mabel Logan Graham, Mitchell Fowler, Dalton Jackson, Sarah Glorioso King, Elvie Bell Loftin, Lavethan Carmichael, Sonny  Miciotto, Sybil Potter Woods, Raymond Bond, Forest McFarland, Wallace Reid Gaulden and A.W. Moore

Fourth Row: M.C. Bledsoe, Kathryn Dyson Raymond, Myrtle Ruth Harrison Dodd, Ruth Twosend Dibble, Maxine Guillot Keeling, Bobby Young, Ida Mae Kendricks, Claude Brittian, Jack Causey, J.B. Fincher, George McAnn, Russell Birdwell, O.L. Mulloy, Lawrence L’herisson, and Leonard

1999.064.043  Bossier High School Reunion book   

Davidson Collection

1999:  Bossier High School Reunion Class of 1941 

1999.125.004    Smith Collection