Last month, a patron came in and asked when the bridge was built over D’Arbonne bayou at White’s Ferry. I must admit, I was caught flat-footed. I had never been asked about it in my almost 30 year career and never thought about it to be honest. Newspapers.com to the rescue!
Back in 1935, the West Monroe Kiwanis Club decided to make a bridge at White’s Ferry a priority. On the front page of the August 9, 1935 Ouachita Citizen, it was announced that a unanimous motion was adopted to make the bridge a major objective of the club. They proposed that since Columbia was getting a new bridge, the old one could be moved to White’s Ferry! As a matter of fact, a petition had been circulating already around Union and Ouachita Parish residents to make that happen! That part of Union parish and Ouachita was rich farmland and goods needed an easier way to market in West Monroe and Monroe. Copies of the resolution were sent to the Louisiana Highway Commission, Lieut. Gov. James A. Noe and the president of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, John M. Breard.
The Kiwanis kept that goal a top priority through the latter 30’s. In 1938, the state Highway Commissioner told the Ouachita Parish Police Jury that to get Governor Richard Leche’s support and federal aid money for a bridge, they would have to stop requiring a toll to use the Ferry. The Police Jury lifted the toll, effective July 15th. The Federal government moved surprisingly fast. The war department approved the plans of the LA Highway commission for a bridge at the end of October 1938. By the end of November, the LA Highway commission announced they would open up bids for construction, using a swing span from the old Columbia bridge. The bid notice describes the proposed bridge like this:
“290-foot Steel Truss Span with Creosoted Pile and Timber Rest Piers and Reinforced Concrete Center Pier. Twenty-one Timber Trestle Approach Spans each 19 feet long and 415.83 feet of earthwork approaches with gravel surfacing Steel Truss Span Superstructure will be furnished at Columbia, Louisiana by Louisiana Highway Commission. Length of Bridge 694.17 feet; Bridge Roadway width 16.75 feet. Total length of Project, 1.025 miles.“
On December 21, 1938 it was announced that the Austin Bridge Co. out of Dallas had been the lowest bidder at $48,916. In June 1939, the Ouachita Parish Police Jury passed a resolution giving the State Highway Commission $1000 for them to acquire a right-of-way for the bridge. It was said in the newspaper announcement, the ferry operated at a yearly cost of $1,800! An interesting little tidbit was mentioned in the Citizen, that it would “…mark the demise of the only ferry in this section of the state.” Hmm…was White’s Ferry the last public ferry in northeast Louisiana?
Finally, work was started on the White’s Ferry bridge in September of 1939. In early May 1940, the Kiwanis Club held an opening ceremony and the bridge was opened to the public.
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 