Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library Branch: Worth the Wait

Until the past few weeks when the new Bossier Central Complex Library opened in Bossier City, the newest building in the Bossier Parish library system was the Koran community’s Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library, a modern building nestled in the woods close to Lake Bistineau. This lovely building had come a long way from the original Koran community branch library, the system’s southernmost branch, which was a parked, defunct, converted-Ford bookmobile, that provided no seating, toilets, heat or reliable cooling, and was located on an old dumpsite.

The parish government (police jury) paid to move the immobile bookmobile to the former dumpsite, where it was parked next to a dumpster. In the early 1980’s the American Legion approved moving the old bookmobile to their land on Highway 527 near Johnson Koran Road. Circulation went up in this more visible location.

Finally, a mobile building replaced the bookmobile in 1987. Even as a temporary utility building that was only 616 square feet, it was a major upgrade, boasting quadrupled book capacity, room for four child-size seats chairs and four adult patron seats, and magazine racks. It also had a heating and cooling system, but still, no bathroom. When that was needed, there was a convenience store nearby. If the staff member needed to run to the store’s facilities, they’d just put up a temporarily closed sign. And like in the parked book mobile, it was only open one day a week, Wednesdays. Storytimes were packed, and patrons appreciated the personal attention of library staff member Ms. Nita, who would have a stack of books waiting for them, based on her knowledge of their personal preferences. The community clamored for better facilities, but no land to put it on was forthcoming.

In 2012, police juror Bob Brotherton decided he and his cousins could change that. They agreed to donate three acres of land on Fairview Point Road, near Camp Joy Road to the Bossier Parish Police Jury for a library in memory of their grandmother, Anna P. Tooke. Mrs. Tooke had been a teacher in Haughton of English and Library Science for almost 40 years and who had raised Mr. Brotherton in a book-filled home. The library on this land was constructed for the Koran and Elm Grove communities in 2014. The branch opened to the public in Spring 2015 along with a playground, covered patio with outdoor tables, and a walking path, which the Tooke descendants hoped would make the library not only a place to get books and information, but also a community gathering spot.

Almost right away, the Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library served its purpose as a community center when the library served as a sandbag distribution center during bad flooding in Koran in 2015. During the Covid lockdowns of 2020, the Tooke library parking lot became a spot for bingo games, with players staying in their vehicles for social distancing. It also hosts scenic Easter egg hunts on the playground, patio and other areas of the property.

The striking building, with its large windows, features deep overhangs from the sloping roof that eases the visual impact on the surrounding landscape of fields and forest, and blends the indoor and outdoor spaces. The building contains natural sustainable materials and passive solar elements to ease its environmental impact, too. For these special elements, the building’s architect, Prevot Design Services won the American Institute of Architects Shreveport Honor Award in December, 2015.

If you have any stories, photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier Parish libraries, or of Bossier Parish citizens who have contributed to community life in Bossier, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter

Images: 

• The first Koran Community Branch Library, housed in a broken-down book mobile, opened in 1977
• In 1987 the Koran Community Branch was housed in a commercial mobile building.
• The May 15, 2015, ribbon cutting at the Anna P. Tooke Memorial Library for the Koran and Elm Grove communities of south Bossier Parish

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Bossier’s Earth Day Heroes: Alice Jeter

 Earth Day is around the corner (Monday, April 22nd), and March, Women’s History Month, is now over. But when it comes to stewardship of the environment, local women are front-of-mind. Last year in this column, we featured two women in Bossier whose names especially seem synonymous with the goals of Earth Day, a celebration of clean air, land, and water: Dianne Chandler and Ruth Tupper. Here is another local woman who believes in being a steward of her environment and her community, and has done so for decades, Alice Jeter of the Barksdale Annex neighborhood in south Bossier City.

As a concerned citizen and leader on many civic boards, including Keep Bossier Beautiful, the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Bossier Council on Aging and the Barksdale Annex Neighborhood Association where she serves as President, Alice Jeter has worked tirelessly to make Bossier City’s Barksdale Annex neighborhood a cleaner, safer place. She helped bring a park and recreation center to the Annex, and to enlarge its Hooter Park. She organizes National Night Out parties, prayer marches and back to school clothing and supplies drives, to name just a few of her projects.

On February 22, 2023, Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler made a Proclamation for Black History Month to recognize the day as “Black American Leadership Recognition Day” in Bossier City, asking Bossier citizens to honor “Black American Leaders whose lives have shaped our community.” In particular, he asked the community to honor Alice Jeter.

Mayor Chandler noted that Alice Jeter was born in Bossier Parish in 1944. As the oldest of twelve children, she had to quit school to help support her family. She worked as a domestic worker in Bossier Parish until 1971. In 1972, she took a job as a cafeteria worker at Parkway High School where she worked for 35 years. Following her years of paid employment, Alice Jeter became a fulltime volunteer for her community (and also resumed her education, earning her high school equivalency diploma). Mayor Chandler accoladed Ms. Jeter for “Seeing value where others saw insignificance, planting hope when many around her felt hopeless. This beautiful commitment to make life better for those around her made her dreams about community a reality. “

In cleaning up her neighborhood, Alice Jeter has worked with folks from all ages and walks of life, including the environmental team of the Halliburton company, that cut back overgrown areas in the Barksdale Annex, Boy Scouts who planted trees, and individuals under court order who picked up litter. These community service teams got special attention from her, as she personally supervised them and walked and talked with them as they worked. Recently Ms. Jeter worked with an Eagle Scout in her neighborhood, Parkway High School sophomore, LaMarcus Harris, whose Eagle Scout project was completed last August after he led 26 family members and friends in a gateway enhancement project for the Barksdale Annex subdivision in Bossier City.

Ms. Jeter has also focused on the importance of home ownership in her neighborhood, saying in the February 6, 2006 Shreveport Times, “When a person owns his own home, it makes him feel good about himself, and gives him pride in caring for his house and yard…It gives them goals and something to look forward to. They’ll want to improve their neighborhood.” She also stressed the importance of the older generation being an example to the younger generation. “If you see some paper, pick it up. Get them [young people] thinking it can be the best neighborhood it could be. If we let them know, as role models, what we want and what we expect of them, then everybody will fall into line.”

This impulse to be a good neighbor has not gone unnoticed in Barksdale Annex. When various Shreveport-Bossier civic organizations sponsored a contest called, “2,000 Reasons Our Neighborhood is the Greatest,” residents of Barksdale Annex put down Alice’s Jeter’s name as their reason they loved their neighborhood. Thus, in the announcement of the contest’s awards on March 20, 2000, Alice Jeter was named, “Neighbor of the Year.”

In concluding his 2023 Black History Month pronouncement honoring Alice Jeter as a Bossier City leader, Mayor Chandler concluded, “WHEREAS, every community has a hero and Bossier City has Alice Jeter. Her servant leadership is matched only by the twinkle in her eye. The City of Bossier City is honored to recognize Ms. Jeter. Thank you, for making our community a better place.”

If you have stories or photographs of some of the area’s civic-minded women, or environmentally-minded citizens, we’d love to see or hear them, and perhaps make copies for our collection, with your permission. We are located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA and are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images:

LaMarcus Harris pictured with community leader and mentor, Ms. Alice Jeter, upon completion of his Eagle Scout project enhancing the gateway (also partially pictured) into the Barksdale Annex community of south Bossier City. August 26, 2023. Photos courtesy of Keep Bossier Beautiful

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Routine Task for Deputy Turns Tragic at Bossier Parish Plantation

 The March, 1954 issue of Louisiana Peace Officer, the journal of the Louisiana Peace Officers Association, contains an article paying tribute to two local men killed in the line of duty. The author of the article writes, “… Louisiana law enforcement has suffered its worst blow in the memory of its oldest officers.” That “worst blow” left the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Department and the Shreveport Police Department each asking, “why?” It also underscored how, for those of the thin blue line, even a routine assignment can turn deadly.

Only a month earlier, on the afternoon of February 27th, no one could have foreseen the tragedy that was about to unfold. Bossier Deputy Maurice Miller, a 42-year-old World War II veteran, went to serve a warrant, which was a task that he had performed thousands of times during his career, according to the journal article. And he was serving it on someone he knew, a farmhand named Ed “Man” West. The Bossier Planter’s Press newspaper stated in an account at the time that Miller “had reportedly befriended Man West. …West had been in trouble with the law on a number of occasions and each time he came to Miller for advice and help.” The paper quotes Bossier officers as saying Miller “had no reason to believe that West would try to harm him.”

At approximately 2 p.m., Deputy Miller arrived at the home of Hattie London, West’s mother, on the plantation of Leonard Woodruff just south of Taylortown on Highway 71. The 36-year-old West was staying with her and being served for non-support of his family. After Miller stepped inside, the apparent friendly relations between he and West suddenly turned violent. According to the Bossier Banner Progress, West shot Miller and then struck him in the head with an ax. Miller was mortally wounded. The paper states that Ms. London ran from the house screaming. Woodruff, hearing her cries and seeing Miller’s patrol unit parked in front of the house, immediately called police.

An estimated 50 officers arrived on scene, including members of the state police. Attempts to talk West into surrendering were futile. He fired on officers who initially were hesitant to return fire for fear of hitting Miller who they thought might still be alive. West refused to come out. An article in the 1994 winter issue of the North Louisiana Historical Association Journal details what happened next. “Officers attempted to drive West out with tear gas bombs. …the effort was unsuccessful because a strong west wind dispersed the tear gas…” Another approach was then tried. The article states that Ms. London entered the house at the request of police to convince her son to give himself up, but that too failed. She was able to bring out two rifles and a pistol, although West was still armed with a shotgun. And she told police she believed Miller was dead.

With a large crowd of onlookers gathered near the house, Shreveport Police Chief Edward G. Huckabay arrived with a fresh supply of tear gas. At 47, he had been with the Shreveport Police Department for 17 years, signing on as a patrolman and then becoming chief in 1946, according to the Louisiana Peace Officer journal. The additional gas was fired into the house, but still West remained inside. It was then that Chief Huckabay made a fateful decision.

Trying to put an end to the confrontation, Huckabay decided to enter the house. A report in The Times the next day states that Bossier Parish Sheriff Willie Waggonner said the decision to go in was made “because it was thought that West was dead or unable to resist further.” Followed by several other officers, Huckabay cautiously stepped inside. The report states the remaining tear gas and dark interior coupled with smoke from a fire ignited in a bedroom by a tear gas canister made spotting West very difficult.

Still in possession of his shotgun, West fired at Huckabay, hitting him in the neck and chest. The other officers returned fire, striking and killing West. The bodies of Miller and West were removed from the house, while Huckabay was rushed to the hospital. He died en route. The fire in the bedroom quickly spread, engulfing the house. Approximately three hours had passed since Deputy Miller had arrived to serve the warrant.

If you have any photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier Parish, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/

Photos:

• Bossier Sheriff's Deputy Maurice Miller/ 28 Feb 1954 The Shreveport Times
• Shreveport Police Chief E.G. Huckabay, in front, enters house followed by other officers/photo by J. Frank McAneny.
• Shreveport Police Chief E.G. Huckabay./28 Feb 1954 The Shreveport Times
• House erupts in flames/photo by J. Frank McAneny

Article by: Kevin Flowers

May Day, A Celebration of Spring and Health

 Spring has “sprung” here in Bossier Parish. The azaleas and other blossoms, and all the bright greenery to go with the purples and pinks, are looking lovely, and it’s comfortably warm and breezy. This transformation is worth celebrating. With the holiday of May Day, people have done so from ancient to more recent times, across the globe and here in Bossier Parish.

May Day began from ancient, pagan Scandinavian and Celtic traditions celebrating the arrival of spring, and both derived from ancient Roman practices. Villagers would go “a-Maying,” picking flowers and secretly leaving them in tiny baskets on neighbors’ doors, crown a Queen of May and dance around a flower and ribbon-bedecked maypole. When these traditions arrived in the New World, Puritans forbade them as relics of paganism. But the holiday persisted in the U.S. Here in Bossier Parish, the celebration of a traditional May Day, has all but disappeared, but there are plenty of folks above at least the age of 50 who can give fondly-remembered firsthand accounts of the celebration.

For local educators, fame could be built on the elegant execution of these performances and festivities, a time for administrators, teachers and children to show off their talents to the community, and for girls to wear some extraordinary dresses, hair ribbons and crowns at school. At Bellevue Academy, near the old parish seat, the Bossier Banner reported in 1867, “Our school teacher, Mrs. Shropshire, supervises the preparation for the occasion. The female portion of her school, together with several of the young ladies of our vicinity, will constitute the Queen and Court…The experience of our teacher in such matters, and her indefatigable energy in preparing the girls and young ladies for the occasion guarantees success. After the ceremonies, a big dinner will be given.”

In 1872, the Banner reported the May Day festivities held at the Fillmore Academy. Tongue in cheek, the reporter said the principal teacher, Mr. Griswold, traded his role of “dictator” for “Master of Ceremonies,” beginning with a speech that was “largely ignored.” Then school girls sang with piano accompaniment, there was the crowing of the May Queen, more songs sung by the girls, then a dinner. “Nobly did the matrons of the neighborhood do their duty that would have been relished by Delmonico himself.” (That was likely a reference to Delmonico’s in New York, the first fine dining restaurant in the U.S.) The meal had pork, ham and Irish potatoes, and strawberries and confections “for the ladies.” The festivities were capped off with a dance to tunes played by a fiddler who played for three hours in the afternoon, then five hours at night, even to jig time. The dance lasted all the way till dawn.

According to a Bossier Banner-Progress paean in 1900 to Bossier educator Professor Joesph E. Johnston, who founded the Pioneer Academy, which became Plain Dealing H.S., and earlier taught at Rocky Mount Academy, the 1887 May Day performance in Rocky Mount under his direction was “an occasion worthy to be recorded in the history of the parish.” A contemporary account of the event in the Bossier Banner-Progress stated, “The May-pole dance was beautiful, and sent one’s fancy flying back through several centuries to Merry Old England. The was crowd was the largest ever assembled at Rocky Mount.”

These celebrations, of course, described the social life of the white elite of the parish. These community celebrations were organized at private schools; a public education system was only just beginning. In the twentieth century, May Day was celebrated within a broader swath of Bossier’s population, among both African-American and white children in public schools, often in connection with social reform movements, such as public health.

Bossier City High School’s May Day (when the school encompassed all grades, from elementary through high school) was enough of a spectacle that a photograph and description of the pageant could be seen on a regular basis in the 1920’s-1930’s in the Shreveport Times. It was such a special occasion that the dedication of its significant, new brick annex building in 1927 and the May Day pageant were combined. Under the direction of Mrs. C.H. McKennon, that year’s “May day fete, the fourth annual event, had four hundred students from elementary through high school grades, performing.” It included a poppy dance, a dance of Violets and Butterflies, a dance of French dolls, a Norwegian Mountain march, an “Indian dance,” a wreath dance, and a parade of tin soldiers. There was the crowning of a queen (Maude Lawson, senior) and a wrapping of the maypole. Between 1,500-2,000 persons attended.

The newspapers of the time, like the schools, were segregated, so mentions of the May Day celebrations in African-American schools were harder to find. In the History Center’s oral history collection, Betsy Bryant Trammell, who attended school in in the 1920’s in her church, Fellowship Baptist, before the Butler school was built for African-American children in Bossier City, remembered they “wrapped a Maypole” (dancing around it with the colored streamers) as one of their special school programs. In fact, wrapping a Maypole was top-of-her-mind when she was asked about what the young students did for fun.

Here at the History Center, we’re always looking for photos or any other mementos from gatherings and special days like May Day (and ordinary days, too) in Bossier Parish. If you can't bear to part with treasured originals, we'd love to have the chance to scan your photos and paper documents. We can add the copies to our collection. The History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA. We are open: M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• Dorothy Hebert Wilson in her May Day Costume for Bossier High School in Bossier City, 1929. History Center photo.
• Marie Davis, Queen of May Day at Bossier City HS. From “The Planters Press,” May 01, 1930

Article by: Pam Carlisle

4-H, the State Fair and Pigs, and the Peace Boys of Benton

 Digitally flip through the book, “Club Men of Louisiana in Caricature,” drawings by W.K. Patrick and Associates, 1917, available online from the Library of Congress, and you’ll find illustrations that poke fun at, yet revere some very influential members of clubs across Louisiana, a powerful, yet limited group. Most of the men are from points further south. However, there’s one illustration that very clearly states it is in Shreveport - William R. Hirsch. A put-together and rather unperturbed-looking, oversize Billy Hirsch sits at a comparatively small desk, labeled “Secretary, State Fair of Louisiana.” The State Fair coliseum (not yet named after Hirsch) and Exposition Building are sketched behind him. 

Surrounding Hirsch in the illustration is a clearly loud, agitated mob of “ladies and gentlemen” assailing him with a barrage of questions or commentary: “I had the goldurned best pertaters in the hull shebang, war’s my prize?” “Tilly Moots got the prize I otta had -shameful!” and, “Samhill! Whar’s the prize on my shote? Thar wuz a blue ribbon on ‘im’?” That one I had to look up – turns out shote, aka shoat is a young pig. 

This cartoon had me wanting to learn more about William Rex Hirsch too. He was president of Hirsch & Leman Company of Shreveport, and secretary of the State Fair, though in more common parlance, he was often known as MISTER State Fair. He had deep roots in Shreveport and wanted to leave a lasting legacy on the city and state. His 1952 obituary said the affairs of youth, particularly the educational improvement of rural youth, was a deep-seated interest of his. The writer speculated it was one of the prime reasons that Mr. Hirsch was involved with the fair. (And if the cartoon was any indication, it was the adults who were “sore losers”.) The writer mentioned that Hirsch was especially a promoter of the livestock auction for 4-H entrants (the youth who were learning to have a future in agriculture) and that it is thought that the Louisiana State Fair under Hirsch was the very first to have 4-H’ers showing pigs, which then become commonplace across the country. 

By 1929, the swine show for adult farmers at the Louisiana State Fair was considered among the best in the country. Also, that year, the 4-Hers had really hit their stride with the Pig Club event, with Rapides Parish coming out on top. By 1944, 4-H club entries in the swine category at fairs and livestock shows bested even the pigs of adult competitors. 

By the late 1940’s, the best of the 4-H swine came from Bossier Parish. As announced in the Planters Press Bossier City newspaper of Jan. 30, 1947, three brothers from the Peace family in Benton, Ernest Richard, 13, Jerald, 11, and Marion Dale, 9, not only raised champion pigs and gained national recognition for their methods of care and the fine product that resulted, but then donated the pigs to the March of Dimes Polio fund for auction. The pigs brought in a record-breaking donation of $540, over $7,700 in today’s money!

In April of 1947, five Bossier 4-H club members exhibited 28 head of swine in the statewide competition at the Louisiana Junior Livestock Show in Baton Rouge, and got many of the honors. The grand championship “fat barrow” prize went to Jerald Peace’s 310-pound Duroc Jersey pig. Ernest Peace also won several places in the swine competition. Marion Dale was too young to participate in that show, but he attended along with their father, stock farmer Mr. E.R. Peace. In addition, Jerald’s pig was sent on an educational tour over the Illinois Central railroad as Bossier’s exhibit, with other 4-H exhibits taking up the entire train. The public was invited to attend this novel event and visit the giant porker during the train’s stop in Shreveport. 

The boys’ 4-H advisor, assistant agricultural extension agent Enoch Nix, and other adults who traveled to Baton Rouge for the exhibition, expressed pride in the Bossier boys’ fine showing at the event. Clearly their behavior, and the generosity of the Peace brothers, could teach the disgruntled adult exhibitors in the cartoon of William Hirsch a thing or two about gracious winning! 

Do you have any stories or photos to share of your Bossier Parish friends or family of various generations growing, raising, or preparing their own food? If so, we’d love to add either originals or copies to our collection. The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA (across the street from the new Bossier Central Library). We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• William Hirsch caricature/courtesy "Club Men of Louisiana in Caricature" & the Library of Congress
• Jerald Peace and his grand champion pig/courtesy The Bossier Banner April 3, 1947

Article by: Pam Carlisle