Latest news with #CaddoParishCivilRightsHeritageTrail
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cedar Grove's first residents, topography, and first streets
The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler. The team is now focusing on the history of the Cedar Grove neighborhood. In the first article in the series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) showed us how a social movement in 1911 Shreveport drastically changed Cedar Grove. In the second article of the series, we learned how Shreveport became a hub for automobile production in the early days of the horseless carriage. The third article of the series examined how manufacturing changed in Cedar Grove after automobile production ended. For the fourth article in our series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner took readers back to 1905-1910, when Cedar Grove sprung up in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, as a small oil boom town. The fifth article on Cedar Grove explores how Cedar Grove was settled after the Louisiana Purchase, how streets became bisected in Cedar Grove, and describes the topography of the little community that later became a Shreveport community. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The Cedar Grove neighborhood of Shreveport today is bordered by Southfield Road and Hollywood Avenue on the north, Line Avenue on the east, Linwood Avenue on the west, and 84th Street and 85th Street on the south. In modern Shreveport, Cedar Grove is bisected north and south by 70th Street and east and West by I-49. But things haven't always been this way. Cedar Grove was once an independent town with its own boundaries. It was also an economic powerhouse that eventually allied with Shreveport. Did you know that several adjoining neighborhoods, including Eden Gardens, Oakmont, Woodlawn, Home Gardens, Morningside, and Shady Grove, owe their existence directly to Cedar Grove? The oldest detailed map of the area that would become Cedar Grove is found in the Louisiana Office of State Lands records in Baton Rouge. This is a portion of the original Patent Survey Map of Township 17 North, Range 14 West. Cedar Grove occupies Sections 24 and 25. The Cedar Grove township was surveyed in 1837, and the map was finalized in 1839. The boundary line between sections 24 and 25 is the original Pierremont Road track. The oldest land occupation is shown as a field owned by Weathersby. Cedar Grove is generally flat or gently rolling terrain and is well drained. West of I-49 and north of 70th Street is mainly flat. Original patents in Cedar Grove occurred in 1839, 1849, and 1859. Not all acreage was patented, and not all of the land patents went to the same individual. A land patent is the first time a king or government offers land to a private individual or a business. The initial transaction is called separation from the sovereign, and after that, the transfer is called a deed. William Laslay Pickens, a native of Livingston County, Kentucky, purchased 360 noncontiguous acres in sections 24 and 25 for $1.25 per acre. The land was prime geography for growing cotton. One of William Pickens' sons, Israel, served as sheriff of Caddo Parish during the Civil War. The Pickens family cemetery is located in Cedar Grove near 74th Street and St. Vincent Avenue. The oldest grave is William Pickens, who died at age 46, just three years after purchasing the property. Several wealthy Shreveporters, some owners of early Cedar Grove industries, purchased most of the remaining Pickens land in 1910. Among them were former Louisiana governor Newton Crain Blanchard, real estate developer J.B. Atkins, Lee Emmett Thomas, Wesley E. Wheless, and John D. Wilkinson. Shreveport had friendly relations with Cedar Grove. The city extended street car service to its near neighbor, separated by five miles of mostly undeveloped land. While workers in Cedar Grove refineries and factories mostly lived there, owners and managers typically lived in Shreveport. Eric Brock, writing about Cedar Grove in 1998, described the original street plans and how they morphed into the larger City of Shreveport grid: 'Cedar Grove's original plan was drawn up by Wheelock, Call, and Call, a Shreveport development corporation, though other developers followed and expanded Cedar Grove to its present size. It consisted of a grid of streets surrounding an area set aside for factories. The idea was that workers could live close to their jobs. Initially, 1,574 lots were laid out for homes. Five streets running north to south and 14 running east to West made up the first phase of development. Initially, the north/south streets were named Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio Avenues, but soon the names were changed: First, respectively, to Western, Atkins, Division, Southern (as it connected, via the streetcar line from Shreveport to the already extant Southern Avenue to the north), and Highland. After the annexation [in 1927], in order to avoid confusion with other Shreveport streets, the north-south streets of Cedar Grove were given their present names: Dowdell, St. Vincent (it was connected with the already extant St. Vincent Avenue to the north), Dillman, Southern, and Henderson, respectively. The east-west streets, first named A through N Streets, were later renamed 67th through 80th, respectively. The numbering followed a pattern begun when the development's limits were extended to the north. The idea was that 70th Street was 70 blocks south of Stoner Avenue and so forth. Actually, the numbering was miscalculated by several blocks – which is not surprising since a great deal of land between Cedar Grove and Shreveport then remained undeveloped. Today, Cedar Grove possesses streets numbered 58th through 85th.' 'Cedar Grove was first a town on its own' by Eric J. Brock, printing in Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, Feb. 21, 1998. The railroad tracks initially divided east-west running streets in Cedar Grove into east and west names. (For example, East 70th Street and West 70th Street.) But as Shreveport grew to the West after 1927, extensions of existing streets received the West designation but were not necessarily connected to the original streets. That's why West Jordan Street does not connect to Jordan Street, etc. Eric J. Brock, 'Currently A Standing Symbol of Urban Decay, Cedar Grove Was Once a Booming Industrial Town,' Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, March 19, 1994. Eric J. Brock, 'Cedar Grove Was First a Town On Its Own,' Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, February 21, 1998. Louisiana Oil and Gas Museum, Oil City, Louisiana. Eric J. Brock, 'Cedar Grove Was First a Town On Its Own,' Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, February 21, 1998. [Louisiana Oil and Gas Museum, Oil City, Louisiana. The (Shreveport) Times, Aug. 25, 1897, pp. 8 The Shreveport Daily News, July 18, 1861, pp. 3 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cedar Grove was an oil boom town
The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler. The team is now focusing on the history of the Cedar Grove neighborhood. In the first article in the series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) showed us how a social movement in 1911 Shreveport drastically changed Cedar Grove. In the second article of the series, we learned how Shreveport became a hub for automobile production in the early days of the horseless carriage. The third article of the series examined how manufacturing changed in Cedar Grove after automobile production ended. For the fourth article in our series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner takes readers back to 1905-1910, when Cedar Grove sprung up in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, as a small oil boom town. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The Cedar Grove neighborhood in modern-day Shreveport was once a little oil boom town that sprang up overnight. Boom towns like Oil City and Trees City (from the previous timber boom) sprang up quickly in North Caddo Parish. Cedar Grove is one of those oil boom towns. Cedar Grove might have remained a pastoral setting during the early 1900s, and Caddo Parish may also have seen slow, steady economic growth if oil and gas deposits had not been discovered twenty miles north of Shreveport near Caddo Lake in 1905. Oil from Cedar Grove was transported through pipelines beginning in 1910. Former timber railroads now serviced oil companies. Refineries sprang up to process the oil and gas into useable products. Pipelines and railroads revolutionized the oil and gas business—access to transportation allowed oil fields to be separated from processing centers. Two early refining centers in Shreveport were located in Anderson Island and Cedar Grove. Several wealthy Shreveporters, some owners of early Cedar Grove industries, purchased most of the remaining Pickens land in 1910. Among them were former Louisiana governor Newton Crain Blanchard, real estate developer J.B. Atkins, Lee Emmett Thomas, Wesley E. Wheless, and John D. Wilkinson. Shreveport had friendly relations with Cedar Grove. The city extended street car service to its near neighbor, separated by five miles of mostly undeveloped land. While workers in Cedar Grove refineries and factories mostly lived there, owners and managers typically lived in Shreveport. Cedar Grove had many growth opportunities. The topography of the northwestern portion was flat, negating the need to move mountains of soil. The railroad tracks (now part of the main trunk line of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railroad) bisected the town east and West. Early oil companies eyed the town as a favorable location for refineries and associated factories. With an influx of industrial companies in Cedar Grove, lumber mills were needed to build the factories and homes. Cedar Grove became a nexus of the industry. Pipelines brought gas to run the local factories. Refined oil and petroleum products were loaded on railroad tank cars destined for larger markets. Among the early petroleum-related refineries were the D'Artois Refining Company, which produced a variety of oils and grease products, Western Carbon, McNutt Carbon, Rogers Refining, and Louisiana Fuel and Gas. Several of these were merged into the more significant Crystal Oil and Refining Company. 'The establishing of another refinery in the Shreveport, La., district is noted as follows by the Shreveport News: 'Ground will be broken at once, it was announced yesterday, for the $150,000 plant of the Marine Oil and Refining company at Cedar Grove, the site to cover 10 acres. The plant will be installed at a cost of $150,000 and the D'Artois process for the running of lubricating oils without a wax plant will be used. This, according tot he announcement, will cut the price of making high grade lubricants in half. Low grade Caddo oil will be used,' we read in Vol. XXII–No. 1 of the Apr., 1917, pp. 24 of The Petroleum Gazette from Titusville, Pennsylvania. In Shreveport Chronicles: Profiles From Louisiana's Port City, by Eric J. Brock, published by The History Press in Charleston, South Carolina in 2009, we learn that George D'Artois, the founder of the D'Artois Refining Company, was the grandfather of George D'Artois, the commissioner of public safety during Shreveport's civil rights movement. Sources: Shreveport Chronicles: Profiles From Louisiana's Port City, by Eric J. Brock, published by The History Press in Charleston, South Carolina, 2009 The Petroleum Gazette, Titusville, Pennsylvania, Vol. XXII–No. 1, Apr., 1917, pp. 24 The (Shreveport) Times, Oct. 20, 1915, pp. 8 The (Shreveport) Times, July 30, 1910, pp. 9 The (Shreveport) Times, Jan. 28, 1907, pp. 3 The Shreveport Journal, June 25, 1909, pp. 6 Eric J. Brock, 'Cedar Grove Was First a Town On Its Own,' Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, February 21, 1998. Louisiana Oil and Gas Museum, Oil City, Louisiana. Eric J. Brock, 'Currently A Standing Symbol of Urban Decay, Cedar Grove Was Once a Booming Industrial Town,' Presence of the Past, Shreveport Journal, March 19, 1994. Brueggerhoff's Shreveport City Directory 1917, R.L. Polk & Co., Dallas, Texas; Brock, 'Currently A Standing Symbol.' Brock, 'Currently A Standing Symbol.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
From horses and buggies to horseless carriages in Shreveport
The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler. The team is now focusing on the history of the Cedar Grove neighborhood. In the first article in the series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) showed us how a social movement in 1911 Shreveport drastically changed Cedar Grove. In the second article of the series, Dr. Gary Joiner (LSU Shreveport Professor of History) will show us how Cedar Grove became a hub for automobile production in the early days of the horseless carriage. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Did you know that Cedar Grove, now a neighborhood in Shreveport, was once home to multiple car manufacturing companies? Here's how, and when, it happened. By 1900, it was not very common to see gasoline being used to power an American vehicle. The nation was just beginning to leave behind the horse-and-buggy days, and it seemed that either electricity or steam would be the easiest way to power the Sunday afternoon drive. On May 31, 1901, a reporter for the Shreveport Journal asked what would have seemed like an unbelievable question: 'Will New York City, during this century, see the day when horses will be barred from its streets?' 'Signs point toward the gradual abandonment of horses in cities, save for pleasure purposes and the general introduction of motor vehicles. Certainly the condition of busy streets would be enormously improved,' continued the Shreveport Journal article. And though, at the time, the thought of giving up horses for motors on a large scale seemed outrageous, the Shreveport Journal was more correct than they could have imagined. By the early 1900s, horseless carriages were being manufactured in Shreveport. And by the end of the 1990s, cars and trucks were so common that most U.S. citizens had already forgotten what life had been like before the invention of the motor car. And Cedar Grove, Louisiana played a role in America's transition from horses and carriages to motor cars. 'I have not been in Shreveport in many years, but I must say that I am astonished at her marvelous development,' Colonel F. W. Blees of the Blees Carriage Company, Macon, Missouri, told The Shreveport Journal in early Oct. 1903. Blees had come to Shreveport with his company's General Manager, B. B. Breed, to strike a deal. 'A meeting of the Progressive league was scheduled, in which the inducements Shreveport would offer provided Colonel Blees could be induced to lcoate one of his factories here would have been set forth, but that part of the program was deferred until tonight,' wrote a reporter for The Shreveport Journal on Oct. 12, 1903. The potential plant had the ability to give employment to 'scores and scores of skilled workmen and beyond that would serve as a leader for the location in Shreveport of other manufacturing enterprises.' 'Shreveport stands a fair show of having a large vehicle factory erected within her limits providing the proper inducements are offered the owners of the proposed plant,' wrote a reporter with The (Shreveport) Times on Oct. 11, 1903. A few years prior, the Blees Carriage company had opened a Shreveport branch and placed Colonel W. H. Crosby at its helm. The company did a 'phenomenal' business in Shreveport. 'Colonel Blees' idea in the establishment of this factory was not so much for the profit that he might gain by such an investment, but to build up an industry which would afford employment to a large number of men, as it was his idea that happily employed mechanics and their families make good citizens, and in developing the city of Macon he was adding largely to the value of his real estate and business property holdings in and absent the city,' continued the article. Unfortunately, Colon Blees died before the manufacturing plant could be created in Shreveport. 'The Joplin (Mo.) Globe contains and interesting news from Mcon, Mo., in a telegram telling of the wedding of Mrs. F. W. Blees to Capt. F. L. Leibling. Mrs. Blees is the widow of the late Col. F. W. Blees, president of the Blees Carriage Company and founder of the Blees Military Academy at Macon. The Blees company formerly had a branch establishment in Shreveport and Col. Blees had several times visited the city,' we learn in The Shreveport Journal, Oct. 4, 1907. Cedar Grove was also home to an early automobile and truck manufacturing plant, The Louisiana Motor Car Company. The Bour-Davis automobile was produced in Detroit beginning in 1915, but starting in 1917, they were built in Cedar Grove. An article published in the Mar. 3, 1918 (Shreveport) Times stated that the Louisiana Motor Car Company had been organized and incorporated to build automobiles in Shreveport. They planned to compete with other cars produced in the United States. 'It has been fully demonstrated that an automobile can be manufactured–not merely assembled–in Shreveport to serve the South that will be in the class with the best standard cars manufactured elsewhere at an enormous saving, which can be added to the normal profits,' stated the article. Louisiana Motor Car Company sold shares of their stock to help fund the enterprise. 'That the Louisiana Motor Car Company will be a success can be easily prognosticated by the following premises: The mistakes of all other factories are before us. The proven scientific principles of accepted substantial construction are before us. All the developed and proven facts by all the leading automobile engineers are before us. We can buy the best and most up-to-date machinery known to the industry. We have thousands of the best automobile engineers to choose from,' claimed the company on pp. 12 of The (Shreveport) Times. Then in March of 1919, Louisiana Motor Car Company made an announcement. They were proud to have purchased, on Apr. 20, 1916, the assets of Bour-Davis Motor Car Company. Louisiana Motor Car Company stockholders selected the 'Louisiane' as the name of the car the company would soon produce. Mrs. A. R. Kilgore of Shreveport was given a car for suggesting the idea of naming the new car the 'Louisiane' in 1918. The Bour-Davis Motor Car Company, prior to being purchased by the Louisiana Motor Car Company, had produced around 600 cars an spent hundreds of thousands in magazine advertising. Their cars had been sent to Denmark, Cuba, Australia, and across the United States. A $1.8 million order reached the company in Feb. 1920. It was called one of the largest contracts for motor cars ever closed in the American South. 'Louisiana Motor Car Company is to deliver 1,000 cars by Jan. 1, 1921. The contract was made with the local automobile factory by C. W. McKay, representing the American Motors Corporation of 100 Broad street, New York City.' All cars would be boxed for shipment from South Shreveport, also known as Cedar Grove. The boxing would require more than a thousand feet of good-grade lumber. The touring cars were handmade, and weekly assemblies averaged four per week. Most parts were shipped via rail and assembled in Cedar Grove. All Bour-Davis cars were high-end luxury models. When Ford offered vehicles only in black, Bour-Davis autos came in vibrant colors. The same engine, a six-cylinder Red Continental engine, powered all models. The company produced a four-door open-touring car, a two-seat roadster, and five- and seven-passenger touring cars. The roadster cost $1,700 in 1917. According to the Consumer Price Index calculator, the comparative cost today (2025) would be $41,924.13. This figure is misleading, considering that World War I raged in 1917 and 1918, and the United States entered the conflict in April of that year. Fifteen pounds of peanut butter cost $3.88, and a two-pound package of coffee retailed at 44 cents. The Cedar Grove Chamber of Commerce ran a lengthy promotional advertisement in the Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, page 51, lauding the town's strengths. It is not printed in its entirety: 'Cedar Grove!Shreveport's Greatest AllyA City of Factories, Homes, Schools and Churches Cedar Grove already has eighteen factories and supports its population of four thousand. These factories are not paper concerns, they are actualities. Some of them are being conducted on a large scale, and all of them are prosperous and are now underway for the for the erection of several other factories, the town's very active and efficient commercial club having the negotiations in charge. An invitation has been extended to investors and those interested in manufacturing enterprises everywhere to visit Cedar Grove and investigate the unparalleled advantages offered. Among these advantages may be mentioned cheap fuel and ample water supply from wells. Easily accessible, equitable climate conditions whereby any factory may be able to operate 365 days in every year if desired. Low tax rates. Cheap land for home building purposes, low rents, excellent social conditions: splendid schools, churches, clubs, and fraternal Cedar Grove is 5 miles away from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, it is by many considered a part of Shreveport because the railroad, several macadamized roads, and the electric streetcar railways afford such easy means of intercommunication between the two points, and for the further reason that the territory between Saint Vincent College and the Cedar Grove residential section has been built up so rapidly within the last two years that the two places have almost merged. Indeed, it is only a question of a short time until all ther vacant lots between Shreveport proper and Cedar Grove will be persons, even in Shreveport, do not realize the tremendous importance of Cedar Grove as a residential and industrial section. The place now has a population estimated. At near 4000, ninety per cent of whom, it has been computed, own their own is no such thing as a vacant house in Cedar Grove and real estate agents have long waiting lists of people who are seeking homes in this prosperous little manufacturing to Cedar Grove's important industrial enterprises, are five active oil refineries with a large output of gasoline and byproducts. These refineries give employment to numerous men at good salaries, most of whom own their own homes and are contented, prosperous, and happy. Several of the nation's largest glass blowing concerns are located in Cedar Grove and give employment to many skilled workers who are paid larger salaries than ordinary mechanics. These glass factories have proven to be successful from the time they were built up to the present, and the prospects are good for several more to be established here within the next two the factories of importance here are the glass factories, the automobile factory, the colossal lumber mills, the automobile wheel factory; the window glass factory; the bottle factory where all manner of bottles are manufactured and shipped away in carloads; the lamp, the lamp chimney factory; the carbon black factory; the insect powder factory; the foundry where all kinds and descriptions of castings were made, and the cement block factory and the Western Silo factories derive their great advantage from the use of gas fuel being so near the great Caddo gas fields, this fuel is obtained at a cost far below that of any other what will be of interest to the entire world is the Glass Coffin factory, now nearing completion and which will soon be in active operation in Cedar Grove. This enterprise is one, and probably the largest of only three or four such enterprises in the entire United States. The coffins and caskets to be manufactured in, it is believed, will revolutionize the coffin industry in this country. The glass coffins are hermetically sealed and are moisture proof as well as vermin proof and persons buried. In these receptacles may be unearthed thousands of years hence and in the same identical condition as when interred. The enterprise is sponsored by the National Glass Casket Company. The operation of this plant will require a number of skilled workmen. At present, several new business buildings are being erected on 70th St. at a cost of approximately $35,000, and it is understood contracts have been let for the erection of buildings on the lots recently devastated by fire. Numerous residences are being built in the various sections of the town and, all in all, Cedar Grove is just about the busiest town in North Cedar Grove tax rate is only five mills. Bonds have been voted for. The commencement of an extensive system of Water Works also for the building of a $25,000 town hall. Work on these enterprises will be inaugurated in a very short time, and within a year, it is believed that water mains will supply the entire town with an ample supply of pure, soft, and potable water to be derived from a series of deep wells. Failing in this, a connection with Shreveport's unsurpassed and inexhaustible water supply will always be the least of the important institutions of Cedar Grove is the Commercial Club, composed of the best business and professional men of the town, who are constantly at work for its upbuilding and improvement and who are ever ready with their money, their time, and the weight of their influence for all things looking to the material or moral advancement of Cedar the benefit of men of moderate means, a Building and Loan Association has been formed in Cedar Grove, and is active in its help to all who desire to take advantage of its liberal and easy terms to home builders. Thus, it is made possible. Or any man who is able to hold a job and ordinary wages to become a homeowner. And this is the fastest growing and most desirable industrial community in the entire southwest.A letter to the secretary of the Commercial Club will elicit all the information desired. Correspondence Grove Chamber of Commerce.' Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, page 51 Ultimately, Henry Ford's 15-minute assembly line doomed the Bour-Davis. The retail cost of a 1917 Ford Model T was $365-$635. Louisiana Motor Car Company filed for bankruptcy in May 1921. Commercial National Bank took over the company by court order, and all of its assets were seized and sold. Commercial National Bank was the company's biggest creditor and helped stockholders settle at a meeting on Feb. 15, 1922. There is little doubt that the Boer-Davis went down in automotive history. But did you know that in 1913, before the Louisiana Motor Car Company even thought about producing cars in Cedar Grove, another man had a similar idea? 'A proposition for an automobile factory to be located in or near Shreveport is made the occasion for a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon,' we read in a clipping from the July 17, 1913 (Shreveport) Times. ' Mr. (R. W.) Twyford proposes to organize a company capitalized at $250,000 to manufacture automobiles in line with his patents which cover a four-wheel driving system and changes in automobile design.' Twyford said that if successful in Shreveport, the company would be organized and chartered under Louisiana laws. The Houston Post wrote a long article about the Twyford Auto Manufacturing Company of Houston's factory the previous year. The company specialized in oscillating front axles, rigid worm steerage, and four-wheel drive vehicles. 'The company is preparing to manufacture automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Twyford patents, whose mechanism applies the power to all four wheels equally, thus enabling the machine to go anywhere that any vehicle can go, on rough roads, mud, sand, or on ice,' wrote a Houston Post journalist. Twyford Auto Manufacturing Company was unable to open a manufacturing facility in Shreveport. But as the years passed, another car manufacturing company moved into the city. In 1981, Shreveport became home to a General Motors assembly and stamping plant. The plant was producing the Chevrolet Colorado when it closed in 2012. Sources: The Houston Post, Apr. 28, 1912, pp. 60 The (Shreveport) Times, July 17, 1913 The (Shreveport) Times, Mar. 3, 1918, pp. 12 The (Shreveport) Times, Apr. 23, 1922 The (Shreveport) Times, Aug. 19, 1903 The Shreveport Journal, May 31, 1901 The (Shreveport) Times, Jan. 3, 1900, pp. 8 The Shreveport Journal, Oct. 12, 1903 The (Shreveport) Times, Oct. 11, 1903 The Caucasian, pp. 1, July 5, 1900 The Shreveport Journal, Aug. 22, 1919 The Shreveport Journal, July 28, 1910 The (Shreveport) Times, Feb. 23, 1920 Louisiana Motor Car Company brochure. Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana. The Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, pp. 51 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shreveport's first road machines tested in Stoner Hill at dawning of inmate road crews
The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler. This month's focus is the Stoner Hill neighborhood. In Stoner Hill's origin story may surprise you, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) taught us that Stoner Hill is older than the city of Shreveport. In part II of our series on Stoner Hill, Was Stoner Hill in Shreveport named after cannabis lovers, we learned where Stoner Hill got its name and how it connected to America's Civil War. Part III of the Stoner Hill series showed what Stoner Hill was like in 1935 vs. what Stoner Hill is like today. Part IV examined how a tornado destroyed much of the Stoner Hill community in 1912. In Part V, Dr. Gary Joiner answered a question from Cookie Coleman, who asked the team if rumors about a mass grave located in Stoner Hill were true. For Part VI of the series, we'll discuss how Stoner Hill became one of the first testing grounds for road machines in Louisiana and how officials traveled from parishes and counties in Louisiana and Texas to see the new state-of-the-art technology in action on a road at Stoner Hill. Jaclyn Tripp took the lead on this article. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – When The Good Roads Committee in Caddo Parish decided that Freewater Hill, which later became Stoner Hill, would become one of the first testing grounds for mule-drawn road machines in Louisiana, officials from parishes and counties in Louisiana and Texas traveled to Freewater Hill (Stoner Hill) to see the new state-of-the-art technology in action. By the late 1890s, the idea of using road machines was controversial in the United States. The concepts and technologies behind road machines were brand new. And many police juries in Louisiana were just beginning to create parish-run road systems. Some argued that road machines were expensive and wouldn't be used enough to make the purchase worth it to a parish. But others disagreed. Roy Stone, the director of the office of public road inquiries, was quoted in the (Shreveport) Times, Jan. 20, 1900, as saying, 'The consensus of opinion in this correspondence is that 'state aid' is the best law under which to build and maintain roads. The method of working convicts in quarries and gravel pits in preparing road material is earnestly supported by everyone, and the use of convicts in actually building roads is strongly advocated by many people, especially those from the south.' 'Because a parish fails to utilize a road machine after having purchased is no argument against the value of the machine… A great deal also depends upon the police jury which can greatly aid and facilitate road and bridge work by proper legislation,' wrote a journalist in The (Shreveport) Times on Aug. 5, 1899. Stone also said that no community in the United States had invested in building good roads and abandoned the new technology for the old 'hog in the mud' method of road-building. 'The general opinion is that the free rural delivery of mails should be extended to those communities where the roads are so good that they will be firm and smooth during all seasons of the year,' said Stone. ' 'The prospects for new road work for the present year are brighter than ever before, and some of the road-machine companies have more orders for machines than they can fill for many months.' By August of 1901, Freewater Hill (Stoner Hill) had been selected as the site for a road test to examine the pros and cons of mule-drawn road machines. The parish was to test three different machines, and the parish road committee was to carefully observe the machines to determine which should be purchased. Freewater Hill (Stoner Hill) was chosen for many reasons. First, the soil in Freewater was stiff clay. Second, a hard-paved road at Freewater Hill (Stoner Hill), leading from the Red River into the city of Shreveport, would benefit Shreveport's importers and exporters. By July of 1901, Caddo Parish was moving forward on the public road test project. Leaders from DeSoto, Sabine, Vermillion, and three other parishes expressed interest in attending the test of the road machines. 'The day might well be set aside as one to be celebrated,' wrote one journalist. 'Event will be the occasion of presence of visitors,' promised a headline in The Shreveport Journal on July 23, 1901. 'It is probably that a public test of the three machines will be made within the next ten days, and it will be made an occasion of the greatest interest to the citizens of Caddo and at least six other parishes in the state,' wrote a reporter from The Shreveport Journal. The project aimed at creating an easy thoroughfare from the Red River into the city of Shreveport that could be travelled in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. As of Aug. 4, the committee purchased ten mules and was slated to buy fourteen more for the road machine test. Andrew Querbes was the chairman of the Road Improvement Committee, and his mules were used to pull the machines. 'One of the proposed features of the improvement work will be the employment of drainage pipes along the new highways,' we read in The Shreveport Journal on Aug. 4, 1901. 'This will be an innovation in road work, but as the drainage problem is the most important connected with the construction of better roads, the committee is determined to start on scientific principles and use every utility that will constitute a permanent improvement.' Chairman Querbes hoped the road test would 1) help inaugurate the use of road machines in Caddo Parish, and 2) determine if asphaltum would make a good sprinkler for roads. 'Similar oil is used on the roads in California with the best results. When oil is constantly applied the asphaltum therein hardens and reduces the road almost to an asphalt basis,' wrote a reporter for The (Shreveport) Times on Aug. 1, 1901. There was much talk about how a system of good roads would increase land value for Shreveport residents and investors. 'The good roads enthusiasts estimate that the building of more perfect highways will increase the value of property to an undreamed of extent,' stated a reporter from The Times. F. T. Woodward, the secretary of the Texas Good Road Association, was on hand for the road test on Aug. 5. Officials from St. Landry also made the trip to Northwest Louisiana. A newspaper headline across the front page of The Shreveport Journal proclaimed PROMINENT VISITORS TO SEE CADDO'S TEST. Unfortunately, during the road machine test one of the parts a road machine failed. The road committee tested the other two road machines that were still in working order and decided to wait until the third machine was repaired and test it before selecting which road machine to purchase. The third road machine was tested at Freewater Hill on Aug. 12, 1901. 'Monroe Machine too heavy,' declared a headline in The (Shreveport) Times. 'The good roads committee… purchased two of the Champions, represented by J. W. Guy, and one Western Machine, represented by Mannery.' 'The Champion won,' declared a reporter with The (Shreveport) Times on Aug. 14, 1901. Andrew Querbes said, 'In the opinion of the committee, the Monroe machine is superior to either of the two selected for keeping the road in good repair, and while it can construct roads possibly as well as either of the other two, yet in our opinion the machine is evidently too heavy for our hilly country, and would require more mules and more expense to manipulate same than our revenues justify.' The Good Roads Committee also stated they would take advantage of every opportunity for prisoners to work on the roads. The Times estimated the parish would save between $1500 and $2000 by putting prisoners to work on public roads. By Feb. of 1902, one year after the road machine test and purchase, Shreveport's Municipal Court was punishing criminals by sentencing them to road work. 'Henry Ward, a white man, received the severest punishment inflicted in a long time,' explained The (Shreveport) Times on Feb. 11, 1902. 'Ward was charged with being drunk and disorderly and the evidence showed that he struck his mother, sister, and choked a younger brother while in his drunken condition… he will be compelled to serve on the public road for 155 days.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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26-01-2025
- General
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Is there a mass grave in Stoner Hill?
The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler. This month's focus is the Stoner Hill neighborhood. In Stoner Hill's origin story may surprise you, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) taught us that Stoner Hill is older than the city of Shreveport. In part II of our series on Stoner Hill, Was Stoner Hill in Shreveport named after cannabis lovers, we learned where Stoner Hill got its name and how it connected to America's Civil War. Part III of the Stoner Hill series showed what Stoner Hill was like in 1935 vs. what Stoner Hill is like today. Part IV examined how a tornado destroyed much of the Stoner Hill community in 1912. In Part V of the series, Dr. Gary Joiner answers a question from Cookie Coleman, who was raised in Stoner Hill. Coleman asked the team if rumors about a mass grave located in Stoner Hill were true. Dr. Gary Joiner took the lead on this article. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A primary indicator of an area's past lies in its cemeteries. Stoner Hill is home to three historic cemeteries, although all are cloaked in mystery. Eric J. Brock, one of Shreveport's best-known historians, authored an article on Stoner Hill's cemeteries. But to understand the history of Stoner Hill cemeteries, you must also understand that Stoner Hill has gone by many names, including Coates Bluff and, later, Freewater Hill. This is but one of the reasons that researching historic cemeteries in Stoner Hill is so difficult. 'A deep gulley on the Freewater side of Bremerton is almost filled with the remnants of houses. A peculiar feature of this section of the wrecked settlement is the position of two houses which stood in this gulley. These houses had been built so that their floors were even with the floor of a bridge which crossed the gulley,' we read in The (Shreveport) Times, Feb. 22, 1912. Peter Youree, considered to be the father of modern Shreveport, apparently bought one of the stores located in Freewater. A ad in The (Shreveport) Times from 1906 shows Youree trying to rent out the store once run by Mrs. E. E. Thomas. A little boy, unnamed, appeared in The Shreveport Journal on May 21, 1889, after allegedly stealing cakes from a store in Freewater. 'In the Stoner Hill area there are several cemeteries, though only one of them is clearly evident as being a cemetery. It is the old Hopewell Cemetery, located at the far end of East Merrick Street, just off C.E. Galloway Blvd.,' wrote Brock. Lost graves in abandoned Shreveport cemetery tell story of South Highlands Brock explained that although the old cemetery is largely overgrown, it is fairly accessible on foot. 'After Star Cemetery, which opened in 1883 just off of Texas Avenue (stretching back to Lakeshore and visible from I-20), the Hopewell Cemetery is probably the most historically significant black burial ground in the city.' The Hopewell Cemetery is not the only cemetery in Stoner Hill. 'Not too far away from the Hopewell Cemetery is another old Stoner Hill burial ground,' wrote Brock. 'This one, however, appears at first glance to be merely a vacant lot. Located in the 2300 block of Freewater Street, the lot contains a single intact tombstone – that of Jessie Cook (1875-99).' But Brock wrote there is evidence of other burials on the site, and that area residents said there once were more tombstones, but only one (Jessie Cook's tombstone) survived. 'There is no physical evidence whatsoever of the third Stoner Hill burial ground, located in the section of that neighborhood known as 'Little Texas' (for its streets all named for Texas cities),' wrote Brock. 'At or near the intersection of Waco and Beaumont Streets is a 19th century cemetery first discovered during city drainage work in 1984. According to older residents of the area, the cemetery contained the graves of 'plague victims.' Brock wondered if the human remains discovered during city drainage work could have been a burial ground for yellow fever victims during one of the 19th-century epidemics. 'Or perhaps a cemetery for the dead of a local 19th-century hospital? It is not close to any known hospital sites of that era, however, and seems awfully far from the then-city limits of Shreveport,' he wrote. He also supposed the cemetery extends beneath the levee along Beaumont Street. 'The other side of this same levee faces the intersection of East Kings Highway and Youree Drive,' wrote Brock. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
