Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Category: Uncategorized

  • Monroe Fire of 1871

  • Monroe’s Ice Factory

    In 1882, Monroe entrepreneurs decided the area needed an Ice factory.  Keep in mind, ice was the only way to keep things cool back then.  No one had refrigerators, and…

  • Sugar Brothers Company, Limited

    Do you recognize this building?  You should!  It is still in existence.  Turn down Art Alley and go all the way to the end of the street.  Now look to…

  • Baer Brothers General Mercantile and Isaac Baer.

    The above building once sat where the Monroe Hotel building now stands on South Grand.  The man who built it, Isaac Baer, was profiled in the Worlds Fair Edition of…

  • Hotel Alvis

    Another lost gem in Monroe is the Hotel Alvis.  it was built in 1928 on the Northwest corner of DeSiard and North 5th Streets.  It was seven stories tall with…

  • Up From Slavery: An Interview with Richard Barrington

    Yesterday, I told you about Senator Solomon W. Downs.  Today I want to tell you about his slave, Mr. Richard Barrington.  The following article was found many years ago in…

  • Louisiana Senator Solomon Weathersbee Downs

    I wrote this article in August, 2007 for Louisiana Road Trips Magazine: Solomon Weatherbee Downs was born in Montgomery County, TN in 1801, the illegitimate son of William Weatherbee.  At…

  • Turn of the Century DeSiard

    This is a rare, grainy photo I found!  It shows men erecting a pole (probably electric!) on the corner of Jackson and DeSiard Streets.  To give you an idea, the…

  • Monroe City Market

    In 1904, Mayor Forsythe had big plans for Monroe.  The city needed a new jail, city hall a streetcar system and a city market.  He brought before the citizens of…

  • Hotel Monroe Annex

    I got very excited one day when I was browsing Ebay  and saw the above postcard for sale.  It is a rare one.  It shows the old Hotel Monroe Annex,…