Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • Grand Street Circa 1910

    This is a great shot up South Grand Street around 1910. The big pretty white building on the left was built in 1906, the same time the streetcars were put…

  • 1839 List of Letters

    Back in the 1800’s, people didn’t have mailboxes for home delivery. You had to come to town to get your mail. Names of those who had mail waiting on them…

  • Y.M.C.A. Building

    The above building was built in 1903 on Jackson Street, across the street from the Jewish synagogue. It was the original Y.M.C.A. building. Today, the site is a parking lot…

  • A Louisiana Governor Feted in Monroe

    In [an earlier] article, I told about the trial of John Loslo, a Revolutionary War veteran tried for murder in Ouachita Parish.  After he was found guilty, Governor Henry Johnson…

  • Bustling DeSiard Street circa 1945

    This photo just amazes me because of how very busy downtown once was! You are looking up the street from about the 200 block of DeSiard.

  • A Northern Man’s View of Monroe’s Judicial Process

    The following article was written for Louisiana Road Trips magazine in 2013: I found this article many years ago and it struck me as a little funny!  A Revolutionary War…

  • Monroe Fire Department Circa 1915

    This is a photo from the Ouachita Parish Public Library’s photo files (photo No. 1155). It shows the Monroe Fire Department outside Station Number one on St. John Street (between…

  • Two Little Orphan Girls of Monroe

    This was written in 2012 for Louisiana Road Trips Magazine. A few years ago, while going through some old Richland Parish newspapers, I stumbled across this article about two little…

  • St. John Street circa 1945

    Fairly old photo of St. John Street circa 1945. You can see the Virginia Hotel and Ouachita National Bank building on the left and the Knights of Pythias building on…

  • Fire on the MOPac: The 1959 Ouachita Train Derailment Disaster

    This was written in 2012 for Louisiana Road Trips Magazine: The night of January 22, 1959 was cold with fair skies.  Temperatures were in the 20’s.  Engineer C.L. Thomas was…