Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Author: Lora Diane Peppers

  • Bon Air Plantation

    Take a look at the bottom left photo. I had never seen a photo of this plantation! Of course, Bon Air Drive is named for this place.

  • “The Tensas Delta of Louisiana”

    Oh boy. The things we are finding in our Special Collections vertical files! We have found things we didn’t know we even had and wonder how they have been kept…

  • Riverside Pavilion at the Saltwater Natatorium

    This is a great closeup of the pavilion that once stood at the old natatorium. From the clothing, I would guess this dates to the teens. The pavilion was used…

  • Cottonport becomes West Monroe

    The Daily Telegraph (Monroe, LA) October 3, 1883 Page 2 “West Monroe.” Why should not Monroe and Cottonport [Note: where Antique Alley is today.] be consolidated? The Railroad Company has…

  • Five Children Die in a Fire

    This is probably one of the most tragic newspaper articles I have ever read about our history. The article doesn’t say that the family were slaves, but you can probably…

  • An Illustration of the 1830 Murder of General Ferdinand Morgan

    Google Books is a treasure trove for historical and genealogical researchers. I was thinking about the Morgan/Morhouse feud, which was the first blog post I ever did. I decided to…

  • Famous Area Cookbooks

    A post on a popular historical Facebook page about area cookbooks had me thinking about them. There are three that are very well-known in our area. I’ll start with the…

  • A Very Good Boy – The Legend of Buddie The Dog

    Perhaps you have wandered around Kiroli park near the amphitheater. On the right side of the amphitheater, past the end of the sidewalk is a grave marker marked with the…

  • Ken Fletcher Booth

    Today is the day that one of Northeast Louisiana’s most respected investigative journalists is laid to rest. I remember seeing Mr. Booth on my TV screen as a kid. I…

  • The King Comes to the Twin Cities

    Hank Snow was nothing to sneeze at. If you know Country music, you know Hank as one of the big founding Opry stars. He was inducted into the Canadian and…