Haughton’s Dorothy Elston Alford Memorial Branch Library

Haughton was home to one of the three original Bossier Parish Library branches, along with Plain Dealing and Bossier City, and a Benton headquarters. The Haughton library opened Monday Sept 16, 1940, inside the Lea Lawrence store, a historic building in “old Haughton” by the railroad depot that burned down in the late 1990’s.

Winona Tomlinson of Haughton deserves credit not only for establishing the Haughton library but for the parish library system as a whole. As part of the Bossier Parish Parent-Teacher Council, and head of the Bossier Parish Police Jury’s library committee, she worked hard in the 1930s to finally get a “demonstration” library system in the parish, through the State Library of Louisiana in 1940.

The December 12, 1940 Planters Press newspaper of Bossier City reported on a press release from the state capital with the headline, “Bossier Library Service [is] Meeting with Approval, Late Report Indicates. As a ringing example of this approval, the report stated that in the Haughton post office, the postmistress “rarely misses an opportunity to tell those who come in for mail about the good books to be borrowed.” In addition, the story reported, one of the mail carriers who would regularly come through her post office would pick up the library bookmobile’s weekly schedule from her so he could advise the people on his rural route of when they could meet ”the library on wheels.”

The Haughton library moved into the Haughton Masonic building in 1949, and in 1970, the village of Haughton donated land and $5,000 toward the construction of a new library building. The new 1,800-sq. foot building housed both the library and the town hall. When that building was about to open, the Bossier Parish librarian Mrs. Betty Sommer said proudly in the Bossier Press of July 2, 1970, that the Haughton library would have 4,500 books plus records, magazines, and newspapers and that films from the state library would also be available. A highlight was that it will be open forty hours a week, almost twice what it was previously. A special boast was that it was “made of brick, is air-conditioned and has a paved parking lot.”

Within less than 20 years, more space was needed for both facilities and the library expanded into the town hall portion of the building in 1987. A new town hall was constructed next door. After this expansion and remodel, the Haughton library was dedicated and renamed the “Dorothy Elston Alford Memorial Haughton Branch.” Mrs. Alford, a lifelong resident of Haughton who received a library degree from Northwestern State in 1943, served as the Haughton branch librarian for 19 years.

When the police jury passed the resolution to authorize the renaming and present a commendation to her family, they described the ways in which Dorothy Elston was an inspirational leader, committed to quality and cooperation in staff projects. They stated that children who use the Haughton library “quickly learned to love and appreciate Mrs. Alford because of the courtesy, respect and gentleness with she which she served them…There exists much public support in the Haughton area to name the Haughton branch after Dorothy Elston Alford in memory of the service and personal attention rendered by her.” The name change was resolved in order to perpetuate “the contributions and memory of this unselfish dedicated public servant,” and adopted July 14, 1987, just days after her death at age 64.

The Haughton library was again renovated and expanded in 2001. A special touch to the library was its cornerstone, provided by the Haughton Lodge #95 of the Freemasons, laid by Haughton Mayor Billy Maxey and Bossier Sheriff’s deputy Charles Rosalee, who previously had been a brick mason and was also a member of the Freemasons. The cornerstone was the finishing touch to the placement of a time capsule to commemorate the Haughton Masons and all involved and interested in the library, from the police jury members, the school board, sheriff etc. The cornerstone sealed the time capsule for an anticipated 50 years at minimum.

To learn more about Mrs. Alford or any Bossier Parish library history, visit the Bossier Parish Library’s History Center, 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City. The History Center is open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• Haughton branch library of Bossier Parish Libraries, C. 1950 (Now called the Dorothy Elston Alford Memorial Branch)
• Picture of “Sponsors of the Bossier library project” from the Shreveport Journal, Sept. 21, 1940 
  
  Mrs. T.R. (Winona) Tomlinson of Haughton is  second from left

Article by: Pam Carlisle