Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • The Phillips Family of Sterlington

    Going north on 165 to Sterlington, you may notice a large stone cross with a few low headstones around it. This is a family cemetery for a very powerful family…

  • The Delta Theater

    The Delta Theater on 3rd Street near Art Alley is an easily recognizable building downtown. It was the last theater built downtown. I found this picture at the Library of…

  • Victory Gardens in Monroe During WWI

    And this last photo, shows just one of the gardens grown in Monroe during WWI for the war effort. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017667718/ The article I cited in yesterday’s post, also talked about…

  • The Junior Red Cross Auxiliary “Does their bit”.

    I found this photo: https://www.loc.gov/resource/anrc.01733/ at the Library of Congress and found this paragraph in the News Star on September 21, 1918 that I believe describes it: Another way was…

  • Picking Cotton For the War Effort

    Back in 1918 during WWI, the Homefront was doing their part. This included the children. The big thing to do was to buy “Liberty Bonds” from the government. At the…

  • A Photographer’s View of Monroe in the 1980’s

    The Library of Congress has a collection of photographs taken by John Margolis. Among his stops in 1982 was Monroe. I found this particular photo: https://www.loc.gov/resource/mrg.04492/ interesting, since the building…

  • Stan Shlosman Reveille Seven Collection

    In 1934, LSU Journalism student Stanley “Stan” Shlosman and six other students, worked at the LSU student newspaper “The Reveille”. Senator Huey Long was in power, and the Reveille published…

  • About to go on Facebook Live.

    Posting a little early today to say that in 30 minutes I will be going live on the Ouachita Parish Public Library Facebook page. I will be presenting a short…

  • A Historical Author With Deep Roots in Monroe

    Sylvester Q. Breard, “Syl” to his friends, was a regular patron of the library. Being descended from one of Monroe’s earliest families, he had a deep love of local history.…

  • A Selman Field Navigator’s Letters Home

    The website is called, “The Yap Island Missing Air Crew Project”. In 1943, a young man from the New York, NY named Martin B. Unger was sent for training at…