Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • The Beginnings of the Brown Paper Mill

    Today, this facility in West Monroe is known as Graphic Packaging. Back in 1924, a newsletter out of Delaware called “The Super Calender” did a profile about the brand new…

  • Weaks Supply Company – 50th Anniversary Booklet

    This little book was found in our vertical files and was digitized last week for the Louisiana Digital Library. It has some great photos of the Weaks building as well…

  • The Wooten-Hyle Implement Company Ltd.

    On December 29, 1909, the Shreveport Times carried this little paragraph in their paper, talking about a new business that had just organized in Monroe: The Wooten Hyle Implement Company,…

  • Farmerville quarantines against Monroe

    This amusing little paragraph in the New Orleans Daily Delta, October 26, 1853 shows just how frightened locals were of the yellow fever scourge! FENCING OUT YELLOW FEVER. – The…

  • West Monroe Mayor Robert L. Rinehart

    Carrying on from Tuesday’s post, another photo that caught my eye in the bathroom foyer was a photo of West Monroe early mayor Robert L. Rinehart! A very distinguished looking…

  • The Crosley Family

    While visiting Antique Alley, I happened to go into the public bathroom in the old Union Oil Mill building. Hanging on the wall of the foyer were several historic photographs…

  • The Grave of Unalaska

    Last week I had the opportunity to visit the old Georgia Tucker Elementary building and I made sure to hunt for the grave of the sled dog Unalaska. I was…

  • Steamboats at a Monroe Landing

    Here is my newest postcard I have added to my collection! It was mailed in 1907. It shows two steamboats docked probably about where the Children’s Museum is now. It…

  • A Great Ouachita Parish Genealogy Resource

    Many genealogy societies are beginning to place their magazines online. When you are doing genealogy research, you may not think about genealogy society newsletters and magazines. They are great research…

  • The Fountain on the Dixie Overland Highway

    One of Luke Letlow’s great articles on his Richland Parish blog concerns a fountain on the Dixie Overland Highway located on what was the Stubbs Plantation. You can read Luke’s…