Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

Tag: Trenton

  • Ouachita Veterans of the War of 1812

    I was browsing through Dr. Williams’ book, “Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley” Part Three and there was a section about Col. William Wood. He was the grandfather of William…

  • Why West Monroe is not Trenton.

    Interesting twist on the reason behind the name! Ouachita Citizen, March 21, 1941, Page 1 West Monroe’s Post Office Difficulties Began Back in 1883 When Cottonport as Town Name Was…

  • Trenton Postmaster Absconds With the Loot!

    The South-Western (Shreveport, LA) Wednesday, October 22, 1856, Page 2, Column 3 LOOK OUT FOR HIM! – A letter to the Claiborne Advocate, dated Trenton, La., Oct. 8th, says: “Our…

  • The First Telephone in Ouachita Parish

    I wrote this for Louisiana Road Trips Magazine back in 2013: In late spring of 1878, Monroe experimented with a new invention called the telephone.  The April 26th edition of…

  • The End of Old Trenton

    I have always wondered what happened to all the buildings that once made up the town of Trenton. The town was so important before and after the Civil War and…

  • Slave Market in West Monroe

    And to go along with yesterday’s post, here is another from the same newspaper, different day, for a slave market in the town of Trenton, which is now part of…

  • Andre Cajun and the tale that refuses to DIE!

    What you are looking at is the little book that started the wild tale about how West Monroe got started. I have written a summary about the Trent brothers legend…

  • Trenton, LA

    This is the only view of Trenton, LA that I have ever seen. It was taken in April, 1874 during a major flood. None of the buildings in this photo…

  • Words of Advice From a Father to His Son

    Trenton, La Sept. 25th 1866 Papa is very proud and happy to learn through letters from Mama and Auntie that his darling Charlie Clayton is an interesting, smart, intelligent, good…

  • Ouachita Parish on the eve of war.

    This is a very interesting write up about Ouachita Parish published in a New Orleans paper just before the Civil War would devastate the area. The New Orleans Crescent (New…