The Destruction of the Original Ouachita Parish High School

This photo appeared in the News-Star in a July, 1961 edition. It shows the wrecking ball taking down the original Ouachita Parish High School. The land where it once stood is now under the I 20 Overpass, next to the Ouachita Grand Plaza, which was the second OPHS building.

Ouachita Parish High School Graduating Classes

We still continue to go through and find treasures in our collection. Two Ouachita Parish High School documents from the 1920's are of particular interest. The first is a 1921 OPHS graduation invitiation, which lists all of the graduating class members. You may recognize some of the names! https://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-orv%3A116 The second document is a program … Continue reading Ouachita Parish High School Graduating Classes →

1904 Ouachita Parish High School Catalogue

Here is a treasure! A new document just digitized for our collection is almost 120 years old! It is a rare Ouachita Parish high School handbook published in 1904. In it you will find a history of the school, the School Board members, faculty, a list of alumni and even the course listing for each … Continue reading 1904 Ouachita Parish High School Catalogue →

A List of Ouachita Parish High School Alumni Who Fell During War

Back in May, 1945 Ouachita Parish High School's seniors had a newsletter called the Ouachita Lion. It served as a sort of yearbook since the yearbook wasn't publishing during WWII. On one of the pages of the May, 1945 issue, they paid tribute to what they called "Gold Star Honor Roll". Basically, alumni of OPHS … Continue reading A List of Ouachita Parish High School Alumni Who Fell During War →

Eddy Arnold and the Duke of Paducah Perform at OPHS

Probably the biggest names to perform on the stage at OPHS were Country Music Hall of Famers Eddy Arnold and Benjamin Francis Ford (AKA the Duke of Paducah) in 1949. You can read about the concert in the clipping below:

Walley Fowler and His Famous Oak Ridge Quartet Plays the Ouachita Parish High School Auditorium.

A while back, I told you about all the famous acts that came and performed at Neville auditorium. I decided to see who came to OPHS. I got curious when I found this concert ad in 1951. Surely it can't be who I think it is. After a little digging, I found out that these … Continue reading Walley Fowler and His Famous Oak Ridge Quartet Plays the Ouachita Parish High School Auditorium. →

Ouachita Parish High School Entry

This is a postcard I won on Ebay. It shows one of the entrances to the old Ouachita Parish High School on South Grand (the second OPHS building). Today it is Ouachita Grand Plaza. What I found interesting was a stamp on the back saying it was, "Trimmed with algonite furnished by Algonite Stone Mfg. … Continue reading Ouachita Parish High School Entry →

Area High Schools Once Had Live Mascots!

Did you know that Neville and Ouachita Parish High School once had live mascots? Above is pictured Shasta the tiger, who was Neville's mascot. Ouachita's lion mascot was called Cheepa, named after the noise he made as a cub! Both animals were kept at the Zoo and used in the zoo's captive breeding program, but … Continue reading Area High Schools Once Had Live Mascots! →

Ouachita Parish High School “Yearbooks”

Back during WWII, local schools didn't print a traditional "yearbook" as we know it. All supplies were going towards the war effort. However, the Seniors printed their own version, which looked similar to a magazine. These are pretty rare to find. These two from 1941 and 1942 were digitized and put on Flickr by the … Continue reading Ouachita Parish High School “Yearbooks” →

Ouachita Parish High School

This is a photo of young women posed outside the old Ouachita Parish High School in white smocks and caps. It is included in the Henry Camp Collection of OPPL on the Louisiana Digital Library base. We have no idea when this was taken. It makes me wonder if it is a group of Red … Continue reading Ouachita Parish High School →