This Month In Bossier Parish History

                   June: Though the Years

Jun.2, 1960:  One of the oldest land-marks was being torn down in Plain Dealing, the two story home of  Mollie Banks Gray.

Mollie Banks Gray Hotel built about 1890.

Two story house in Plain Dealing, La with trees obscuring front.   Section on right projects forward.  Porch with gingerbread to the left.  Picket gate.

1997.062.028 Turnley Collection

Apr. 13, 1947: Mollie Banks Gray's 85th birthday. Includes J.T. Manry and unidentified friends

2003.026.020 Corley Collection

Jun. 1921: Weekly news form a 100 years ago

• Haughton Town Council was busy trying to get things in shape, visible results were repair of the well and work of the roads.

C.1900’s   This unique picture of Haughton, Louisiana, was taken in 1910, from atop the church bell tower.A wagon loaded with a bale of cotton proceeds to the railroad depot. the three-story building in the center is the Crume Hotel. At the far left is the store of T.H. Lawrence, which was the last surviving building, until 1997, when it was dismantled. the white house on the right would burn in the 1950's. Behind it is the Edwards' home, which would burn in the 1990's. Fire has been a strong enemy of Bossier Parish's early homes an towns.

000.003.033 Pattillo Collection

•  A fusillade  (series guns firing) of shots and ringing of the church bells gave warning of fire at the Boggs' home.

Benton Boggs Home.

Home of Benton Boggs, 1st mayor of Plain Dealing. Queen Anne-style house with elaborate gingerbread and unusual cap on chimney.

North West Corner of Palmetto Ave. and Perrin St. Plain Dealing, Louisiana. 

1997.062.072 Turnley Collection

• The Brushy boys challenge the Linton boys to a ball game, final score 62 to 2, in favor of Linton

Top Photo—Linton School: Emma Scarborough Lawson, Marie Lay Bumgardner, Belle Dalrymple Jenkins,  Anna Pilkinton Finnis (?),  Evie Thomas Richardson, Ida Jones,  Bob Bumgardner, Charlie Jones, Wilburn Dalrymple, Alton Dalrymple Smith, Ethel Dalrymple Ryan, Sadie Lay Dooley, Gladys Bumgardner Birdwell, Claudia Bumgardner Boylston,  Mary Belle Dalrymple Lane,  Ula May Denning Copeland, Robert Jones

1998.081.005     Young Collection

Bottom Photo—Old Brushy School

2001.025.026Rodgers Collection

• Lyles Wyche was employed at the Transcontinental Oil Company.

C.1910’s: Three boys (Harry, Lyles and J.W. Wyche) standing by their calf-drawn wagon.  A dog sits in the wagon.

Location, north Palmetto Ave looking north east from Cham Wyche house. 

1997.062.062      Turnley Collection

• William Bounds motored over to Minden.

These are the 5 sons of William Arthur Bounds and Nancy Elizabeth Watt. 

William Henry Bounds born 1890, James Murph Bounds born 1892, Walter Albert Bounds born 1893, Howard Franklin Bounds born 1985, and Chiga A. Bounds born 1897.

The boys had six sisters.

2012.059.049

June 17th: Happy National Mascot Day!

    Recognizing the luck they bring to teams, franchises, and more, National Mascot Day celebrates            these iconic figures on June 17th each year.

Airline Vikings: Percy Ashley
1978: Airline High School Yearbook

Benton Tigers (Beth Sirman and Kathy May)
1970: Benton High School Yearbook

Bossier Bearkats: Judy Nichols and Mary Compton
1958 Bossier High school Yearbook

 

Haughton Bucs: Charity Rankin
1992 Haughton High School Yearbook

Parkway Panthers: Cindi Allbritton and Cathi Disbrow
1973: Parkway High School Yearbook

Plain Dealing Lions: Connie Walker

1969 Plain Dealing Yearbook

Jun.30, 1929: A year after the original Cottage Grove Church was destroyed by fire, the first service in the new building was held on Jun.30, 1929.  The new building was made possible by the contributions of Mr. John H. Milling, family members and the community of Cottage Grove.  

Photograph of original church at Cottage Grove taken 6/20/1928. This church burned and was replaced with small brick church. Cemetery can be seen in background.

2001.052.083  Saucier Collection

C.1950’s-1960’s: Cottage Grove Memorial Presbyterian Church 

2003.026.027Q Corley Collection

Cottage Grove Holds First Columbian Club Affair

Heinze, Hermann, A. Zeese & Co, and World'S Columbian Exposition. Souvenir map of the World's Columbian
Exposition at Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance, Chicago, Ill, U.S. A. Chicago: A. Zeese & Co., Engravers, 1892.
Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2010587004/>. 

Aug. 10, 1893, was Louisiana Day at the World's Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL. This world's fair celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on Oct. 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not open to the public until May of 1893 and ran for six months closing in Oct.

The planning began nearly ten years before the dedication ceremony. Many prominent civic, professional, and commercial leaders from across the nation participated in the fair's financing, coordination, and management. The total cost of the fair was approximately $46,000,000, which is the equivalent of nearly 1.4 billion dollars today. There were forty-six countries, 34 U.S states, and 4 U.S. territories with buildings at the exposition.

To have a state building or headquarters meant having a proper representation of their resources at the world's fair. Early estimates suggest that the appropriation needed was at least $75,000. But, the Louisiana legislature only appropriated $36,000, and $12,000 of that was earmarked for the two commissioners, which ruffled quite a few feathers. Since $24,000 was not enough money to provide proper representation, Columbian Clubs began to form throughout the state.

In an article appearing in the "Weekly Shreveport Times" on Mar. 5, 1893, the writer stated that "Louisiana was too poor – floods and legislative inaction throwing the burden of making a display upon the women of the state." An article in "The Bossier Banner" on Aug. 11, 1892, supports this statement; it reads as follows:

"It is to our credit as a parish that the ladies, always active and enthusiastic in any good cause, are evincing interest in organizing for the purpose of raising funds for our State exhibit at the World's Fair. That we have at present two Columbian Clubs, one at Cottage Grove, and one at Benton, both organized with good membership, surely speaks well for the ladies of said places and vicinity, reflecting great credit on their public spirit."

Martha "Mattie" Gilmer Swann c. 1905
Ann Fitzpatrick Graham Collection: 2003.007.016D

The writer goes on to list the names of the officers for both clubs, all women. And then admonished, "Surely all will help this cause, and before snother [sic] month rolls by we hope to have not two Columbian Clubs in Bossier parish, but a dozen, if need be, that every community of ladies may do what they can to help make a 'record' for our parish in the State work."

Earlier that year, Dr. W. M. Abney, President of the Police Jury, with the unanimous approval of the jurors, appointed Martha “Mattie” Swann as the parochial delegate from Bossier Parish to the World's Fair. She was instrumental in the organizing of these local clubs. Shortly after the article ran announcing the two Bossier Parish clubs, she visited Plain Dealing, where a third Columbian Club was organized in this parish. Again, the officers of the club were made up entirely of women from that community.

These clubs held elaborate affairs to raise money for the Louisiana State Exhibit building at the World's Columbian Exposition. The Columbian Club at Cottage Grove held the first of these affairs at Swannhaven plantation, home of Mattie Swann. Guest enjoyed supper and entertainments complete with recitations, tableaux, soliloquies, instrumental duets, horseshoe quartets, and other musical numbers. The night was concluded with an address from Mrs. Julia Rule, Pansy of the Times, "to arouse enthusiasm in our State Columbian work."

Swannhaven Plantation, Cottage Gove, Louisiana, c. late 1800s
Ann Fitzpatrick Graham Collection: 2003.007.007

Next, the Benton Columbian Club prepared a feast that was given at the Union Hotel supper-room. The write-up in the “Shreveport Times,” provides the following description. “The contributions to this supper were most generous, and some responded who were not members of the club; long tables groaned ‘neath the weight of delicious salads, cakes, beautiful jellies and appetizing pickles – all ‘home products’ – as were the barbecued meats, daintily trussed turkeys and chickens galore!”

Both events were filled with dancing and merriment, and the ladies' efforts were rewarded by the “...large and appreciative crowds, whose patriotism and pride in our fair State’s representation at the coming magnificent exposition...”

Louisiana Day, Aug. 10, 1893, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, IL
Source: Digital Research Library of Illinois History

The Louisiana state building was an exhibit of authentic southern architectural style and was divided into eight rooms. One devoted to the Acadian exhibits, from the quaint old French colony in the lovely Bayou Teche country. Another room was devoted to the relics of the French and Spanish days of Louisiana. Richly carved antique furniture of a former Governor, which was usually kept at the museum of the Capitol building at Baton Rouge, filled one of the rooms.

There were eleven beautifully carved panels designed and executed by women of the State. And many other interesting articles, including a veranda of Louisiana woods, where each visitor was given a seedling of a cypress tree, resulting in the spread of cypress trees to areas where they were not native, of which many can be found in West Virginia.

When it comes to agriculture, there was also a double-decked Chinese pagoda, artistically finished off in rough rice, where samples of rice were given to the ladies that visited. In a massive pillared veranda made of sugar cane were displays of syrups, molasses, and sugars, including the old sugar-loaf cakes. There was an exhibit of ramie hemp and other fiber plants, corn, and tobacco.

Of course, it wouldn't be a true representation of Louisiana without its food and music. So naturally, a Creole kitchen served all the southern delicacies for which the state is noted, and a Creole concert company entertained the many visitors.

The World’s Columbian Exposition was the most significant world's fair in U.S. history and one of the most important in the history of world expositions. The Ferris wheel made its debut at the fair, as did the brownie, among other things. The architecture shaped the country's style for the next 25 years and the exhibits were more impressive than anything seen before. It introduced the concept of the midway, a lively entertainment zone, a feature that soon became a staple of virtually all future expositions.

By: Amy Robertson

Veteran Slim's Unique Travel Mode

John H. Wheeler, better known as ‘Slim’ by the locals, was a native of Bossier Parish, born in 1879. He lived in Plain Dealing for the majority of his life. At the age of 19, Wheeler fought in the Spanish-American war. After the war, he made his living as a tonsorial artist, which is a fancy way of saying a barber.

He ran his shop in Plain Dealing for 27 years until he sold it in 1928 to his son Howard A. Wheeler, who began working with him several years prior. Doing so allowed him the freedom to divide his time between the tonsorial arts and performing his duties as constable.

Wheeler became paralyzed from the waist down at some point early in his life; however, it is not clear whether it was a result of being in the war or if he later became disabled. Being confined to a wheelchair did not stop him from working or from getting around town. In 1937, he purchased a motorized wheelchair so he could expand his traveling options.

The law in Plain Dealing required that he not drive his motor chair faster than 23 miles per hour in town, though his motorized wheelchair topped out at 16-miles per hour. This did not stop him from going wherever he pleased, including long-distances. His first trip was to his church in Cottage Grove, where he enjoyed the church service and dinner on the grounds. “He said in only took 50-minutes to drive from Plain Dealing to the little church.”

While Wheeler was famous around town for his mode of transportation, it would not be long before his fame spread. In 1938, he made his first long-distance trip to Lake Charles, La, to visit his sister, Mrs. George Robinson. Wheeler traveled 420-miles roundtrip starting at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday and arriving at his sister’s home at 1:45 p.m. the next afternoon. Though his chair came equipped with a light, he chose not to drive during the night hours.

His gas-powered chair got between 80 and 85 miles per gallon, and the one-horse power motor ran on one cylinder and had two speeds in drive and one speed in reverse. The chair was described as being much like a typical wheelchair in appearance for that day and time, except it had bicycle tires in place of the standard wheels, and it had a stick lever for steering, as seen on older automobiles.

It cost just over $250 in 1937, the equivalent of just over $4,500 today. In the event of rain, all Wheeler had to do was pull out his handy dandy umbrella that he kept tucked under the left armrest. He also had a small garage built at the end of his front porch to house his motorized chair. He could make the transfer from his house wheelchair to his road wheelchair unassisted.

After his trip to Lake Charles, he led a parade of Plain Dealing High School Lions fans and supporters with about forty cars decked out in Plain Dealing High School colors and signs through Bossier City. But his longest trip was still to be had, as he planned to travel all the way to San Antonio, Tx, for the Spanish-American Veterans meet.

By: Amy Robertson