Pictorial Maps Presented

Large scale pictorial maps of Covington and Mandeville were produced in the 1980's to show the commercial development (and give historical perspective) to west St. Tammany's largest communities. Since the early history of the area is directly tied with the location and size of its commercial areas, the maps aimed to help spotlight the older business districts while also showing the newer shopping areas. This was before the internet intervened and began competing with the "brick and mortar" stores.

I had been drawing small scale maps of neighboring communities, suitable for use as placemats, book covers, or even on T-Shirts, but in 1985 A. G. Crowe of Slidell began producing large three foot by five foot posters of my maps. 

Here is a photo of him (at left) presenting Mayor Ernest Cooper of Covington with a framed copy of the 1986 Covington area map which included Abita Springs and Hwy. 190 down to the interstate. Click on the images for a larger version.

The presentation of the finished three foot by five foot map print of Mandeville was also photographed and published in the newspaper. See picture below. 

Real Estate Property Transfers March 27 - April 3

Below is a link to a list of Property Transfers in St. Tammany Parish for the week of March 27 through Apirl 3, 2017. It was printed in the New Orleans Advocate and was on their website as well. 

CLICK HERE for the Property Transfers to see who sold what to whom for how much. 

Friends of the Library Book Sale

The Friends of the Library used to hold a Book Sale every month at Hadden Hall on Jahncke Avenue in Covington, before it was demolished. The group is now looking for another place to hold the popular used book sales.

See also: Hadden Hall History

Car Show, Music, Conversation: It's Final Friday!

The Final Friday Block Party for April was held in downtown Covington this evening, complete with cars, music, and street conversations. The weather was cool and breezy, the food and drink was great, and it was less crowded than Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

Here are some pictures. Click on them to make them larger. 

100 Years Ago This Week

What was going on 100 years ago this week? The following link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service. CLICK HERE for a link to the St. Tammany Farmer edition of April 28, 1917. Click on the image below to enlarge it. 

Principals Provide Fund-raising Incentives

School Principals will do almost anything to ramp up the excitement for students engaged in some sort of competition or fund-raiser. Here's one principal at a Covington school getting pies thrown at her as a result of some contest at the school that had reached its goal.

Back when Bill Brady was principal of Covington Elementary School, he promised that if the kids sold enough Christmas wrapping paper to reach a fund-raising goal of $3000, he would kiss a pig. 

Well, to his surprise, that promise was a very strong motivation for those students (and their parents), and the goal was reached and one day Bill found himself face to face with his new friend. The news media was called, the kids were gathered in the playground, and Bill (with some hesitation) leaned over and kissed the pig on the snout, much to the delight of the children who had apparently been waiting for this day with much anticipation. 

Later Bill said it was a rather disappointing experience. "She never calls, she never writes, it's like she's totally forgotten about me," he said with his usual sense of humor. Here are some of the pictures. 

Bill Brady and his friend

The Mayor and the Monster

     The phone company held a press conference at the Pearl River telephone building one day in 1973, and the news media showed up to take pictures of John Pasqua with the phone company (at left), Mayor Robert Harper of Pearl River (at right), and their friend, the Honey Island Swamp Monster. They were unveiling several huge rolls of telephone cable that were about to be installed for some major improvements in the area. 

 

 

A video about the Honey Island Swamp Monster

 

 

The Chinchuba Oaks and Mardi Gras Day

An event seared into the minds and hearts of St. Tammany environmentalists and residents was the "Mardi Gras Massacre" of 1978, a day when the state came in with heavy equipment and pushed down the well-known Chinchuba Oaks. The grove of trees was located on the west side of U.S. 190 in Mandeville, just south of its intersection with La. 22.

The action was a shock to many who, after months of trying to protect the trees from destruction, took the day off to enjoy Carnival festivities, only to discover that crews had come in unannounced and "removed the trees" while everyone else was going to parades.

Here are some newspaper articles from the time, some 39 years ago. 
Click on the images to make them larger and more readable. 

 

 

 

According to the Mandeville City website, the above photo shows the last of the five cabin-chapels built by Father Adrien Rouquette to minister to Choctaws The site was chosen for its proximity to a Choctaw settlement, cemetery and massive live oak tree which became known as the Pere Rouquette Oak. The name of the cabin was "Kildara."

 

 

Newspaper articles PRIOR to the incident
indicated that the oaks were historically 
significant

 

The way the Chinchuba Oaks controversy was handled (or mishandled) became known throughout the state as a warning to all who might find themselves in a similar situation. In an issue of the Ponchatoula Times newspaper on Dec. 26, 1985, (seven years later) mention of the Mardi Gras Day Massacre was made in reference to a similar situation facing Ponchatoula main street merchants. See article below.

See also: 

 

The St. Tammany Parish Library's account of the "Mardi Gras Massacre"

An aerial photo of the N. Causeway Approach/US 190/La. 22 Intersection as it was in March of 1965.

Click on image above to start video which fades between an aerial photos taken in 1965 and 2017. The location of Chinchuba Oak is shown in red.

A satellite photo of Mandeville in October of 1978. 

CLICK ON THIS LINK for a full-size version of this photo.