It was launched in 1963 by Arthur Koepp.
Here is the text from the advertisement above:
"Arthur Koepp has been working with the tourist trade in New Orleans for the past fifteen years, the owner of three gift and souvenir shops in the French Quarters of New Orleans. He built this museum and gift shop to attract the tourist trade to St. Tammany Parish. This museum is different from any museum which can be seen. Many articles that will be displayed are unique in themselves and the only one in the world of its kind. The museum will be a must on a tourist list.
"Mr. Koepp would like to also put on display in the'Museum St. Tammany for his friends and future friends any historical article fifty years old or older that they may have. There is no better way to show to the world that you cherish the articles left by your loved ones. Each article must have the present owner's name on it and if possible the original owner or owners names. The present owner of each article will be given a receipt giving the name and number of each item. Whenever the owner desires he may claim his articles by presenting his receipt with its name and number.
"Museum St. Tammany will be opened to receive articles starting August 23rd. and every day after that from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M."
However, in 1972, only nine years after it opened, the St. Tammany Museum was found to be in the way of highway improvements (namely the four-laning and new service roads of U.S. 190), so it was earmarked for destruction. I was one of the last people to go through the museum before it was dismantled, the exhibits taken away and the building torn down. I don't know what happened to all of its exhibits, but I hope they are still around and being cared for by someone. Arthur Koepp, the founder of the museum, had died in 1971.
I took a number of photographs during that visit, some of which are posted below.
I took a number of photographs during that visit, some of which are posted below.
It was one of many private museums in operation in St. Tammany, a testimony to the appreciation of the past and the value that so many Northshore residents place on their heritage. To read more about the museum, click on the image of the article below.
SUNDAY JUNE 11, 1972
Destined for Ruin
MANDEVILLE — The responsibility of a museum is usually that of recording progress, keeping on exhibit the relics of eras gone by and the records of events long past.
The St. Tammany Museum located on Highway 190, near Mandeville however, is destined to be a victim of progress. It is located on a stretch of land that has been marked for the service road along the four-lane Mandeville Highway soon to be started.
Destined for Ruin
MANDEVILLE — The responsibility of a museum is usually that of recording progress, keeping on exhibit the relics of eras gone by and the records of events long past.
The St. Tammany Museum located on Highway 190, near Mandeville however, is destined to be a victim of progress. It is located on a stretch of land that has been marked for the service road along the four-lane Mandeville Highway soon to be started.
The museum itself has been closed for three years and was the pet project of Arthur Koepp, area resident. Koepp died in March of last year, after a long career of collecting and classifying all kinds of items, both with historical significance or just the unusual.
The museum contains old cameras, an old k organ, dozens of ancient farm tools and a display of natural oddities such as strangely bent pine trees and an oak growing out of the center of a cypress tree. Koepp kept his eyes open for anything that pricked his curiosity, from iron caskets to old cash registers.
He had planned for the museum to be a major tourist attraction in the area and tried to arrange for area motels to sell tickets to the museum. His ambition was never fully realized however, even though he was somewhat successful with a couple of souvenir shops in New Orleans.
His son, Floyd Koepp, is now in the process of emptying the museum, seeing that those items on loan get back to their rightful owners and the items of some significance are taken care of. It will all be gone, nonetheless, when the highway comes through and the St. Tammany Museum becomes a part of the past it once recorded.
