Representative Pierre Bossier, The First from the Fourth

 It’s back to school time, so here’s your history pop quiz. For whom was the parish of Bossier named? General Pierre Evariste Bossier, of Natchitoches. Perhaps that question is easy or boring, but here is a tale of tracking down our parish’s namesake that puts to rest the idea that history is boring or irrelevant. Pierre Bossier lived 200 years ago, pre-photography, when the parishes of northwest Louisiana were considered “the frontier parishes,” and even Louisiana was not considered part of the “Old South” but of the “West” or Southwest. Even Washington DC, where Pierre Bossier served... Read Full Blog

Motobu, A Marine’s Best Friend and Sgt. James F. Brown

 After writing the stories of the horrific Texas City disaster of 1947, it seemed time to venture into lighter, feel-good territory. After finding a story of a shell-shocked and abandoned Japanese war dog, named Motobu for the north Okinawa peninsula where he was found, who was rescued by some US Marines, including a young man from Bossier City, I thought I’d come across the perfect feel-good topic. And, it was just in time for the 79th anniversary of “Victory Over Japan,” commemorating the August 14, 1945 announcement that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effective... Read Full Blog

History Center Moves to New Home Inside Central Library Complex

The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center has a new home. Early last month, the center “packed its bags” and relocated to space inside the Bossier Central Library Complex at 850 City Hall Drive. Although there is still some unpacking of those bags to be done, the center is open for visitors.

 

Since 1999, the History Center has been documenting and preserving the story of Bossier Parish and its people, and through those 25 years, the center has amassed quite a collection of everything from documents and photographs to furniture and clothing, thanks to the generosi... Read Full Blog

Eugene Barefield and the Texas City Tragedy, 1947

On the morning of Wednesday, April 16, 1947, in the industrial port of Texas City, Texas, 10 miles east of Galveston, the French vessel the SS Grandcamp, which was being loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded. The explosion set off a chain of events, including the explosion of a second ship carrying ammonium nitrate, that changed history locally and even globally. Many families in the Shreveport and Bossier area suffered through the anxiety and grief of the disaster’s immediate aftermath.

 

 

Last week’s history article looked at... Read Full Blog

Robert Southerland and the Texas City Tragedy, 1947

Robert Southerland and the Texas City Tragedy, 1947

 In Texas City, Texas, a busy industrial port between Galveston and Houston, an explosion occurred on the morning of Wednesday, April 16, 1947 that changed history locally and even globally. The shock of the explosion could be felt as far away as Louisiana, and the waves of anxiety and grief scarred many families in the Shreveport and Bossier area, including the Southerland family, as they awaited news of their brother, son, and son-in-law Robert D. Southerland.

Texas City, Texas had been a much sleepier town prior to Wor... Read Full Blog

A Bossier Biography – Lambert W. Baker

Here is a story of a resilient Bossier Parish man that takes place during the Reconstruction era, 1865-1877. His story shows that Reconstruction was a time of strident national political division. It was a time when to vote Republican in the South, which had been the party of Abraham Lincoln, was to risk ostracism or even serious physical harm or death.

 

 

Lambert William Baker was born in North Carolina in 1818. In 1844, he married Martha “Mattie” Allen in Walker County, Alabama. Their first daughter, Theodocia, and only son, Perc... Read Full Blog

Dear Mr. President, 1942

Two weeks ago, we featured kids, the fifth graders of Mrs. Bonvillion’s class at Bossier Grammar School, who were making a difference during World War II. They collected the waste fats and tin cans that were needed to make munitions for the armed services. The children posed for a photo in 1944, a copy of which is in our History Center collections, showing them holding a banner that said, “We Brought the GREASE to Write the PEACE.” Here’s another story from our collections of a Bossier City youngster doing her part, and making her voice known, for the war effort.

 

... Read Full Blog

Winning World War II from the Kitchen

In the archives of the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is a 1944 photograph of Mrs. Bonvillion’s fifth grade class at Bossier Grammar School (now Bossier Elementary School). The students proudly hold a banner that proclaims, “We brought the GREASE to write the PEACE.” They brought waste fats and tin cans that were needed to make munitions for the armed services during World War II.

Schools were not the only places in which kitchen fats were collected. Lettie VanLandingham was Bossier Parish’s Home Demonstration Agent through the Depression, WWII and into the 195... Read Full Blog

Gliding into Normandy, 80 Years Later, Part II: Bennie Matlock

The invasion of Normandy began 80 years ago on June 6, 1944, with the risky and unprecedented Allied landings from the air and sea, known as “D-Day.” In addition to the beach landings of amphibious craft, and the airborne troops who parachuted behind enemy lines, minimally supplied and scattered from each other, supplies and troops landed courtesy of newly-minted gliders and glider pilots. The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is fortunate to have oral history interviews with two Bossier veterans who landed on D-Day, silently and partially under cover of dark and clouds, in motorless,... Read Full Blog

Gliding into Normandy, 80 Years Later, Part I: James Larkin

It is the 80th anniversary (June 6th) of the D-Day landing in Normandy France, marking 80 years since the celebrated and unprecedented beach landings of Operation Neptune and the ensuing battles of Operation Overlord. Supplies and troops also landed courtesy of newly-minted glider pilots who flew unarmed, motorless glider planes into landing zones, often in the dark, deep into enemy territory to clear the way for the rest of the battle for Normandy.

The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is fortunate to have oral history interviews with two Bossier veterans who experienced gl... Read Full Blog

Time Stands Still for Old South Bossier Home

 Along Highway 71 in south Bossier stands a home that seems somewhat out of place. Part of no neighborhood, it’s located in a field not far from Walker Place Park and the Brookshires Grocery Arena with majestic, white columns and a brick façade. I’ve long been curious about the home’s history, and apparently others have too, as evidenced by a recent email to the History Center asking about the place.

 

 

Newspaper accounts state that the two-story colonial dates to the World War II era. An article in The Shreveport Times from August 4,... Read Full Blog

Larry Freeman and the Jewish Journal

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, an annual recognition and celebration of American Jews' achievements and contributions to the United States of America. Here’s a fun fact for that month. The second largest Jewish newspaper in the state of Louisiana, the Jewish Journal, was once published in ‘old downtown’ Bossier City, a.k.a. “the East Bank.” A warning though – some of this story is absolutely not fun, due to the world news that the Jewish Journal was diligently and urgently relaying outside Nazi-occupied Europe as the events unfolded, the Nazi persecution of Jews.

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Lt. Edward F. Teague: A Brave Pilot with a Brave Family

Decoration Day will be here soon, the last Monday in May. Three years after the Civil War ended, in 1868. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, established Decoration Day as a time to decorate the graves of their war dead with flowers, already a springtime tradition in several communities, both the North and South. Logan chose the date of May 30th because, some say, it was a time flowers would be in bloom all over the country. Over time, the day became Memorial Day, a day to honor all those who died in service to our nation.<... Read Full Blog

A Cultural Exchange: When the Indrani Dance Troupe Came to Bossier City, 1961

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month to celebrate the contributions that generations of AAPIs have made to American history, society, and culture. When the Indrani Dance Troupe of India came to Bossier City in November, 1961, Indrani and her fellow dancers and musicians intended to share Indian dance and culture with the Ark-La-Tex. Instead, the shortened visit put the spotlight of the world on the customs of Northwest Louisiana during the time of “Jim Crow” racial segregation. 

Born in Madras (now known as Chennai) In... Read Full Blog