Did you know that the great orator, William Jennings Bryan once visited and gave one of his famous speeches at Monroe? I didn’t either, until I accidentally stumbled across this ad in a Monroe paper last week. Reading the next day’s paper, it stated he came to Monroe by train from Ruston, where he had spoken the night before and stayed with Sheriff J.P. Parker, Jr. He spoke his famous lecture, “The Prince of Peace” at the Monroe City High School auditorium and then left for Florida. Neat!
You can read the text of his speech here: http://trisagionseraph.tripod.com/Texts/Prince.html .
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 