Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • Mayors of West Monroe, LA

    Since Mayors of West Monroe are so hard to find, here they are in a list: Zachary Clay Wright (1889 – 1890) Eugene Franklin Thompson (1890 – 1893) William W.…

  • Mayors of Monroe, LA

    A while back, someone asked for a list of all of Monroe’s mayors.  I quickly realized that wasn’t as easy to find as I thought.  There is nothing to be…

  • The first train arrives in Monroe.

    In 1852, a group of northeastern Louisiana businessmen got together to bring a rail line through Monroe.  It was almost ten years later till that dream was fulfilled.  The Vicksburg…

  • “There’s cheating going on.”

    Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) February 4, 1861, Page 1 “CHEATING ROUND THE BOARD.” – A correspondent writes from Monroe, La. – Some years ago a game of poker was being…

  • Ouachita Parish on the eve of war.

    This is a very interesting write up about Ouachita Parish published in a New Orleans paper just before the Civil War would devastate the area. The New Orleans Crescent (New…

  • The death of Judge Isaac Henry Bry

    If you live in or near Monroe, you are familiar with Layton Castle.  What you probably don’t know, is that Layton Castle is much older than it appears.  At it’s…

  • The Morgan/Morehouse feud part II.

    Yesterday I told you about a murder on the streets of Monroe in 1830.  Today, I will tell you about the conclusion of that gun battle.  I wrote this article…

  • Welcome to my page!

    Hi everyone!  Welcome to my little corner of the internet!  I wanted to share some of the interesting history tidbits I come across while researching (I am a genealogy librarian). …