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 →

A List of Past Principals of Ouachita Parish High School

I got curious last week and decided to compile a list of all the Principals who have served OPHS. I started all the way back in 1894 when the Original High School was being built and worked my way to the current day. I am unsure of the modern principals' tenure years, but I am … Continue reading A List of Past Principals of Ouachita Parish High School →

Ouachita Parish High School’s First Principal

Meet Mr. Henry E. Chambers, OPHS' very first principal! I was shocked when his photo came up associated with the school. Henry Chambers is well known in my department for writing a classic set of books on the history of Louisiana. We have a set. The above etching is what he looked like when he … Continue reading Ouachita Parish High School’s First Principal →

The First Graduating Class of Ouachita Parish High School

So I told you yesterday about the first class of the Monroe City High School, which is the forerunner of Neville. Lets go back about six years, to when the Parish High School was built. Who were the members of OPHS class of 1895? This comes from the New Orleans Times-Democrat (June 7, 1895, Page … Continue reading The First Graduating Class of Ouachita Parish High School →

Ouachita Parish High School Graduation Programs

I didn't know we had a small collection of them in our files. How about 1916: https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-orv%3A67 1923: https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-orv%3A66 and 1933: https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-orv%3A65

An Update to “An Early Graduating Class” Post.

Back on March 24th, I posted a photo from Dr. Williams' collection showing a group of high school graduates which I could not identify. During the hiatus, I was contacted by a reader of the blog, Mr. Lee Carbrey who informed me he had a newspaper clipping that dates the photo. Yep. Right there in … Continue reading An Update to “An Early Graduating Class” Post. →

An Early Ouachita Parish Graduating Class

Oh this one is super frustrating. A label on the photo states it was the photo of Maude Rogers, Parish School Graduation. There is where the trail runs cold. I've tried imputing Maude's name in the Newspapers.com search to see if there are any graduation announcements, but no luck. The Ouachita Parish High School (original … Continue reading An Early Ouachita Parish Graduating Class →