Lake Plain Dealing - Go “North” to Cool Down!

 With record-breaking heat lately, let’s go north to cool down - well, to north Bossier Parish that is, to Lake Plain Dealing! Lake Plain Dealing started its life as a bond issue to protect the area from flooding but it has become a part of the community for its less-utilitarian but just as life-sustaining role as a place for recreation, fishing and enjoying the natural setting of Plain Dealing.

In 1956 the association called the Upper West Fork of Cypress Bayou Watershed and the Board of Supervisors of the Dorcheat Soil & Water Conservation District established three lakes in the Plain Dealing area to thwart persistent flooding. The municipality passed a $52,000 bond issue and the Bossier Parish Police Jury built and blacktopped roads to the lakes. The rights-of-way were mostly donated by citizens. The sawmill S.H. Bolinger and Company donated work crews and equipment for clearing out and leveling up the shoreline and picnic grounds. Prisoners cleaned scrub and debris from the recreation area. Boy Scouts stacked brush and planted grass. In 1961, the endeavor was named national Watershed Project of the Year.

 Lake Plain Dealing c. 1960

One of these three lakes was Lake Dogwood, used for flood control and fish and wildlife. There was an unnamed lake for flood control only. The largest of the lakes, Lake Plain Dealing, remains popular for recreation and has been enjoyed for picnicking, boating, swimming, water skiing and fishing. One former Plain Dealing resident remembered in an online post about the lake how she “sure did have fun there sixty years ago.” She remembers swimming area, a raft and some beach area, a concession stand, some woods, and a spinning ride that would throw you into the lake!

The Home Demonstration Club, other women’s clubs, and the American Legion helped financially in projects around the lakes. In addition to the myriad informal swimming and family picnic outings, local newspapers of the early days of Lake Plain Dealing announced a wide variety of organized activities there, such as skeet shooting, turkey shoots, fishing tournaments, sunrise church services, water ski shows, scout campouts, and trail rides. Some of these events at the Lake Plain Dealing park were part of Dogwood Drive festivities held annually in Plain Dealing. What is omitted from these newspaper articles is that, like schools, recreation areas were segregated. Regrettably, in its early days, Lake Plain Dealing and its amenities were intended for and enjoyed by white people only.

 Lake Plain Dealing c. 1960

Today, Plain Dealing women are again the fundraising and volunteer movers and shakers readying the park and facilities for all families, working together as “Plain Dealing Proud” along with parish and civic funding and labor. Rope and buoys were again placed in the swimming area and recently a dock was put in and a swing set improved. The Dogwood Drive no longer exists but now Lake Plain Dealing is part of Louisiana’s National Scenic Boom or Bust Byway in the northwest part of the state. Visitors to Lake Plain Dealing now have new picnic tables sitting on concrete pads that have been added thanks to the Byways designation. Apparently the wooden spinning structure that throws you into the lake has not made a comeback –changes in safety awareness over the intervening decades surely have a lot to do with that!

So if you’re looking for a place to cool off this hot summer, take a drive up “north,” to Plain Dealing and (safely) jump in the lake! Or, come see us in the nice and cool History Center. We’d love to hear your stories or see your pictures of Lake Plain Dealing or other recreation areas in the parish. Contact us at 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org or visit us at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City. We are now open: M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. For other intriguing facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok

Article by: Pam Carlisle

Wedding Bells in Bossier

 June is such a popular month for marriages. Did you know that the month of June derives its name from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage? Here is a look in the History Center’s collection to learn about the traditions and fashions of Bossier’s historic weddings.  

Wedding of: Thomas P. Adger and
Clyde Louise (Herndon) Adger

There are many photographs of wedding parties and brides in our collection.  Thomas P. Adger and Clyde Louise Herndon wed at the First Baptist Church in Plain Dealing on June 17, 1914.  We have an entire series of candid photos from their wedding day taken by John Allen, including one of the young couple climbing into an automobile after the ceremony. This series highlights the fashions of the couple and the wedding party, as well as the many attendees. 

The Bossier Banner frequently would include wedding announcements and ceremony descriptions.  B.F. Smisson and his new bride, Sallie M. Arnold Smisson, sent the Banner more than just a write-up of their 1875 wedding – they also sent cake!  William Scanland, editor of the newspaper, received a box filled with “the most delicious cake – from the richest fruit to the snow-white bride’s cake, emblematic of her purity.”  The couple was married at the home of T.J. Tidwell, one of Bossier Parish’s well-known citizens.  

In fact, sending wedding cake “in exchange” for an announcement seems to be business as usual for editor Scanland. When the couple Mr. Henry Bodenheimer and Miss Cora Well were married in the bride’s mother’s Shreveport home on May 26, 1880, Scanland wrote that, though both bride and groom had been residing in Shreveport the past several years, they “in fact have been raised here and have many warm friends of all classes and creeds. The fair bride is one of the handsomest and most lovable young ladies in the city, and certainly Henry has won a rich prize … We acknowledge the receipt of the usual printer’s fee--delicious cake and sparkling wine. We wish them all imaginable happiness.” 

The majority of brides today wear white dresses for their weddings, but colorful dresses were common in the past.  Leila Wyche wore a dark brown dress with a matching hat for her marriage to Harry M. Carter on November 15, 1887 in Bellevue. This practical dress was donated with its coordinating hat by her family to be preserved in the History Center’s collection. It was fashionable enough for a wedding and Leila could wear it for other occasions, too.  

The Bossier Banner printed the Carters’ marriage announcement two days after the wedding, noting that the bride is a “lovely and accomplished lady and a favorite in Bossier Parish social circles,” while the groom is a “worthy young gentleman of excellent character and energetic habits.”

 Maugrete, wears her mother’s
wedding dress on “Dignity Day,” ca. 1930.

The History Center’s collection also contains a photo of a young woman with wavy bobbed hair wearing a high-necked Victorian-style long-sleeved, floor-length gown covered entirely in lace, possibly ivory or another light color, and two strands of pearls. It is not, however, her wedding day! It is a photo of the donor’s friend, “Maugrete T in her mother's wedding dress on ‘Dignity Day’ c. 1930.” Another reference to such a day is found in the Shreveport Journal in October of 1930. It describes members of Shreveport’s Fair Park High School Class of 1931, the first graduating class of Fair Park, who “observed their ‘Dignity Day’ last Tuesday. The girls were dressed in the sweeping skirts, ornate blouses and waists (shirts) and fantastic hats of bygone days. The boys turned out in full dress.”  It appears that roughly a century ago, a Dignity Day is when you dress up for fun in very formal, noticeably old-fashioned clothes and, of course, accessories. 

Mary Emily (Arnold) Vance in her
 wedding gown, 1902.

Like the photos mentioned above, many of our photographs are black and white, so it helps to research the wedding announcements in the local newspapers to get a better idea of bridal fashions. William Calvin Vance, Jr. and his fiancée, Mary Emily Arnold, married on February 6, 1902.  The following week, an article about their wedding ran in the Bossier Banner.  We learn that Mary’s dress was much more vibrant than the photo leads us to believe.  “The beautiful and charming bride wore a dainty gown of green Venetian cloth, with trimmings of delicate pink appliquéd in white.  An exquisite boa of soft white chiffon gave an elegant finish to this lovely costume.  She carried a bouquet of bride’s roses, white carnations, and ferns.”

Please visit the History Center to look at these and other photos of weddings in Bossier Parish, or to utilize our genealogy resources to research the marriages in your family tree. The History Center is always looking to expand our wedding collection.  We're looking for photos, marriage licenses, fancy invitations, clothing, jewelry, and any other mementos from those special days in Bossier Parish (including “Dignity Days!”).  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 now 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.

Article by: Pam carlisle

Summer vacations

Next Monday will be the official start of summer! With the heat and humidity, it's been feeling like summer for a while in Bossier Parish. A beach vacation is in order when temperatures are too high. The beaches of Galveston Island in Texas have been, and still are, a favorite summer vacation spot. The Walker family of Bossier vacationed on the island in the 1910s. This photo (0000.003.013) shows Sayde Walker and Emma Walker Pattillo on Galveston beach in their bathing dresses.

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish

Dairy - Food that you could get at the source, such as your own milking cow, didn’t just afford the luxury of a fresher taste, it also meant having to store food for as short a time as possible in the days prior to modern refrigerators. Milk, often served as buttermilk, not “sweet milk” like we drink now, might be kept in a well. The first electric service came to Bossier Parish (Bossier City) in 1912, but some rural families were still without it in the 1940’s. They had ice box refrigerators, kept cold by the blocks of ice an “ice man” would deliver, sometimes with ‘kool aid’ for the children.

Photo: Unidentified children, most likely in Plain Dealing, enjoying ice cream cones. Do you you know these children? Please respond if you do! Photo by Dr. Scott Coyle, who was a Plain Dealing resident and physician, courtesy of Kitty Coyle.

New Photo Display!

We have just installed a new photo display, "Summertime in Bossier Parish," at the History Center. The display features images of picnics, swimming holes, summer camps, and family vacations. We have also located several wonderful photos of men and women in stylish bathing suits and dresses, like the one seen here on Fannie Swindle Gatlin. Even though she's covered from head to toe, Fannie is ready for a swim during her honeymoon in this image from 1916.

So as you sweat through another Bossier summer, stop by and see how your ancestors enjoyed summers past.