Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • Fields Department Store Window

    Anyone remember the old Fields Department store at it’s DeSiard Street Location? Here is a picture showing a window display in 1959. How many people bought their Sunday best clothes…

  • Claiborne Baptist Church Congregation in 1962

    This photo was dated in 1962. The church building on DeFreese Rd. in West Monroe now houses a church called “The Gathering”. https://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-bsc%3A25

  • First Baptist Church Monroe

    Here is another photo we have showing a group of children with their care givers in front of the doors of First Baptist Church, Monroe in 1964. You can see…

  • The Clover Leaf Dairy

    Anyone remember the old Clover Leaf Dairy which stood in the 1800 block of Louisville Avenue? In the 1960’s or so, the Monroe Boy’s Club took a tour of the…

  • The Architecture of the North Louisiana River Parishes

    I have seen this book several times before. If you are interested in the architecture styles of some of the buildings in Ouachita parish, this book is for you! It…

  • Walking Tour of old Cottonport

    A few years ago, the Downtown West Monroe Revitalization Group created a pamphlet guide to the historic buildings and sites in the Antique Alley area of West Monroe. The pamphlet…

  • Mahalia Jackson Comes to Monroe

    In 1970, the Queen of Gospel herself, Mahalia Jackson sang at the Monroe Civic Center. Mayor Jack Howard presented her with a Pacemaker Bracelet and rolled out the red carpet…

  • Russians Visit Ouachita Parish

    I was flipping through Gilbert Faulk’s book “Twain” when a cute little section he apparently wrote in 1973 caught my attention. He talks about a visit from a group of…

  • For the Love of History Blog

    My favorite Halloween blog has been posting this month! “For the Love of History” posts every October daily stories of North Louisiana murders. She has already told a few that…

  • A List of Old Ouachita Parish Plantations

    A coworker of mine is working on organizing our vertical file materials and I got nosy last week and opened one of the vertical files she had on her desk.…