Dedication page photo from the 1951-52 Smithy yearbook. Some of you from the Sterlington area may have had this gentleman as a principal. Mr. O.K. Bailey, Sr. served for 43 years as principal of Sterlington's elementary, Jr. High and High School. The above photo was taken when he served as principal for A.L. Smith School. … Continue reading Beloved Sterlington Principal Leaves Behind a 43 Year Legacy in Education.
Tag: Ouachita Parish Schools
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!
Lenwil School
If you have any friends or relatives that may have gone to school at Lenwil in West Monroe back in the 40's to 50's, you may want to look at these! These came from a Lenwil P.T.A. scrapbook, and show mothers, students and faculty/staff of the school. An added bonus is an aerial shot of … Continue reading Lenwil School
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 West Monroe Boy Separated From His Dog Outrages the World
This one was brought to my attention in one of the Facebook groups I am a member in. Back on October 5, 1954, a ten year old boy named Joe Cooper took his bike to school at Ransom. Following along behind him was his mutt Tippie. According to the boy, he tied his pet to … Continue reading A West Monroe Boy Separated From His Dog Outrages the World
One Room Schools in Ouachita Parish – 1905
This is great! I found an article in the New Orleans Item newspaper, dated October 30, 1905 stating that the Ouachita Parish schools had opened! Most of them can bee seen in our Camp School Collection photos here: https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/oplib-camp:collection . They are all little one room schoolhouses! SCHOOL OPENS IN OUACHITAPARISH. MONROE, La., Oct. 30. … Continue reading One Room Schools in Ouachita Parish – 1905
