Covington's Timeline of Key Events

In 2013 in recognition of Covington’s Bicentennial being celebrated that year city officials compiled a timeline showing key events in the community. Here is that timeline:

1785 - BADON SPANISH LAND GRANT

Sisters of the Collins brothers married Robert and Henry Badon. The boys' mother, Catherine, got 1,600 acres through a Spanish land grant in 1785.

1800 - 1936 COLUMBIA STREET LANDING

The landing is located where Columbia Street meets the Bogue Falaya River. This active harbor once docked schooners and steamers and brought many early settlers to Covington. Established in the early 1800s, it was a vital link to other river cities transporting cotton, lumber, bricks, whiskey and mail. Oyster luggers used the port to transport fresh oysters to the community through the 1930s.

Click on the images to make them larger.

1810 -JOHN WHARTON COLLINS COMES TO LOUISIANA

John Wharton Collins, Covington's founder, came to Louisiana in 1810 to join his brother William, who had staked out 600 acres on the Northshore below the Badon Plantation on the Tchefuncte River.

1810 - DRIEUX SPANISH LAND GRANT

Jacques Drieux was given a Spanish land grant of 40 arpents x 40 arpents above the confluence of the Tchefuncte and Bogue Falaya rivers. He intended to found a town and name it St. James or St. Jacques. His town never developed, however, perhaps because of the changing political situation prior to the area's incorporation into the United States in 1810.

1813 - COLLINS PURCHASES PROPERTY FROM DRIEUX

John Collins purchased Dreux's property for $2,300, using his wife's dowry of $2,000. Inscribed on the map that was presented to Parish Judge James Tate was "The Division of St. John of Wharton, founded on July 4, 1813, is humbly dedicated to the late Thomas Jefferson." Collins named the town Wharton after his grandfather. (The name of the town was later changed to Covington.)

Click on links in blue letters for more information. 

1814 - ANDREW JACKSON PASSES THROUGH COVINGTON

On his way to meet the British, Andrew Jackson passed through Wharton, as Covington was then known. His overland route took him from Mobile to Madisonville, where his troops boarded a mail packet run by William Collins, brother of the founder of Covington.

1816 - WHARTON CHANGED TO COVINGTON

Collins approached the legislature for a charter in 1816, and it was granted. The name of the town was changed to Covington, however, in honor of a hero of the War of 1812.

1817 - THOMAS TATE ELECTED MAYOR

Tate was the first Mayor of Covington.

1818 - COURTHOUSE CONSTRUCTED IN CLAIBORNE

The first courthouse, built in 1818, still stands in the Claiborne Hill area, which was the parish seat.

1819 - COVINGTON BECOMES PARISH SEAT

December 27, 1827 - JOHN WHARTON COLLINS DIES

The founder of Covington, John Wharton Collins, died at his home in New Orleans. He was buried in Covington in accordance with his final request. He was interred on the corner of Columbia and Kirkland streets. His widow sold the surrounding land to the city five years later to be used as a cemetery.

1846 - CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH DEDICATED

Bishop Leonidas Polk, who would become known as the "Fighting Bishop," dedicated Christ Episcopal Church in 1846. The church is considered the oldest continuously occupied, non-residential building in the parish.

1850 - COURTHOUSE ERECTED ON BOSTON STREET

The second courthouse was erected at 510 East Boston Street in Covington.

1850 - HOSMER FAMILY SWISS CHALET

One 1850s boarding house was the Swiss Chalet run by the Hosmer sisters on Jahncke Street, which was named after the German family that donated the shell for the road. A carriage called the ferry line ran down Jahncke to Old Landing. The Hosmer family operated a sawmill on the Bogue Falaya River.

1860 - ST. TAMMANY DELEGATES VOTE AGAINST SECESSION

St. Tammany Parish delegates voted no to secession at the state legislature's convention.

1874 - ST. TAMMANY FARMER FOUNDED

The St. Tammany Farmer newspaper was founded in 1874 and is believed to be the oldest continuously operating business in St. Tammany Parish.

1875 - MAYOR W. CLALUDEL Mayor from 1875 - 1876

1875 - MAYOR GEORGE INGRAM

1875 - ST. PETER'S SCHOOL

St. Peter's School was likely founded by the Roman Catholic nuns as early as 1875.

1876 - MAYOR CHARLES HEINTZ Mayor from 1876 - 1877

1876 - H. J. SMITH'S SONS FOUNDED

H. J. Smith's Sons General Merchandise Store on Columbia Street in Covington and meet the fifth generation of Smiths to work in the business.

1877 - MAYOR F. B. MARTINDALE Mayor from 1877 - 1880

1880 - MAYOR E. R. RANDOLPH Mayor from 1880 - 1887

1884 - FIRST TELEPHONES INSTALLED IN TOWN

1885 - THE BANK OF COVINGTON

Covington Bank and Trust Building (circa 1885), 308 North Columbia Street The Bank of Covington was established in these original quarters. It is the oldest commercial building in Covington.

July 4, 1885 - ABADIE STORE AND BAKERY

Louis Abadie store and bakery (circa 1885), North Lee Lane at Gibson Street

1887 - MAYOR WILLIAM BADON Mayor from 1887 - 1888

1888 - RAILROAD COMES TO TOWN

The East Louisiana Railroad reached Covington, heralding and economic boom. The original depot faced New Hampshire Street with a passenger and freight terminal facing east. During the mid-1920s, the depot was moved one block to the present site, which is now a restaurant.

1888 - MAYOR FRANCIS A. GUYOL Mayor from 1888 - 1891

1891 - MAYOR EMILE FREDERICK Mayor from 1891 - 1892

1891 - DESIGNATED "THE MOST HEALTHY PLACE"

According to the book "St. Tammany Parish," by Frederick S. Ellis, Covington was named "The Most Healthy Place in theUnited States" due to the low number of deaths per population recorded in the 1890 census.

1892 - MAYOR F. B. MARTINDALE Mayor from 1892 - 1893

1893 - MAYOR CLAY ELLIOT Mayor from 1893 - 1894

1894 - MAYOR ADOLPH FREDERICK Mayor from 1894 - 1897

1896 - "NEW" COURTHOUSE CONSTRUCTED

The existing courthouse was demolished and replaced by the third courthouse (circa 1896).

1898 - PATECEK BUILDING CONSTRUCTED

The Patecek Building, located at 301 North Columbia Street, was built shortly after the Great Fire of 1898. The building provides a beautiful example of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture. In the early months of 1995, total restoration of this historic building began.

November 1, 1898 - THE GREAT FIRE OF 1898

1899 - MAYOR C. Z. WILLIAMS Mayor from 1899 - 1908

1899 - DIXON ACADEMY (ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL)

To fill the need for upper level education, there were private schools for students whose families were able to pay for further education. Many private schools had come and gone in the Covington area, but today's St. Paul's School has continued since its establishment as the Dixon Academy in 1899.

1900 - ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE

St. Joseph's College, a boarding school for boys, was founded circa 1900.

1906 -FIRE STRIKES AGAIN

1907 - COVINGTON BANK & TRUST II 236 North Columbia Street

Originally built in 1907, it served as the second Covington Bank & Trust building. The structure also housed a drug store and attorneys' offices on the second floor. After the bank's closure in 1934, the building housed the first chain grocery store in Covington. During the tenure of the latest owner, the tile facade was added and renovations were extended on the second floor.

1907 SOUTHERN HOTEL CONSTRUCTED

This building was constructed at a cost of $100,000. There were once 200 feet of galleries overlooking New Hampshire Street, a formal garden and a tennis court. Tame and exotic animals resided in cages in the central lobby surrounding an artesian fountain.

1908 -MAYOR E. V. RICHARD Mayor from 1908 - 1910

1910 – 1925 COVINGTON ICE HOUSE 322 North Florida Street

This structure was built in 1910 and served as the Covington Ice House until the 1920s when it became home to D'Aquin's Wholesale Grain Company. Blossman Gas Company occupied the building from 1934 until it was renovated as Tyler Downtown Drugs.

1910 - MAYOR FRANK G. MARRERO, MD Mayor from 1910 - 1914

1913 - COVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL

In 1913, the School Board passed a resolution making the Covington School a high school. Then, with the passage of a special tax and bond election in 1914, there was enough money to move the old wood building and build a new brick one.

1914 - COVINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL

C. J. Schoen Middle School (circa 1914), 300 North Jefferson Avenue. Formerly Covington Grammar School, this structure is the oldest school building in use in the parish. The school building was on this site as early as 1909. The building was recently converted to administrative offices.

1914 - MAYOR PAUL LACROIX Mayor form 1914 - 1919

July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918 – World War I

1919 - MAYOR ROBERT J. BADON Mayor from 1919 - 1923

1919 - CHAMPAGNE GROCERY Champagne Grocery, 427 North Columbia Street

This beautiful structure once housed the Champagne Grocery, founded in 1919, which remained open for more than 60 years. At the time when groceries were delivered and for many years after, Champagne's was an important part of everyday life in Covington.

1920 - 1920 CENSUS

Covington was growing and by 1920 there were 2,942 people in town.

1923 - MAYOR JACOB SEILER Mayor from 1923 - 1925

1924 - NEW COVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL OPENS

In 1924, a new bond issue brought in the necessary money to purchase property on Jefferson Avenue between 17th Street and 18^th Street. By January 1925, work was well under way on the new Covington High School. In February 1925, it was also decided to house the School Board offices in the new building since the courthouse needed the space they had been using.

1925 -MAYOR  WALLACE M. POOLE Mayor from 1925 - 1929

1928 - CHS NAMED ELMER E. LYON HIGH SCHOOL

The year 1928 was a banner year for Covington High School. In February, the name was changed to Elmer E. Lyon High School to honor the highly respected superintendent of schools, and bonds totaling $150,000 were issued to enlarge, improve and equip the Covington High School building and to purchase additional sites if necessary.

1929 - MAYOR CHARLES H. SHEFFIELD Mayor from 1929 - 1934

October 24, 1929 - STOCK MARKET CRASH

On October 24, "Black Thursday," the stock market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading.

1930 - COVINGTON WATERWORKS Covington Waterworks (circa 1930), 414 North Theard Street Stucco Mission Style building with baroque style shaped gable parapets and a Spanish style roof. It is the only building of this architectural style in Covington, and it is located in the Morgan, Commerce & Virtue.

1930 - COVINGTON FIREHOUSE - Old Covington Firehouse (circa 1930), 406 North Theard Street

This two-story wood frame structure was built in 1940. Living quarters on the top story served as home to the family who answered the phone and sounded the alarm for the 3rd Ward (Folsom, Covington and Mandeville). In 1949, the Volunteer Fire Department received a new Seagraves Fire Engine. It was housed in this building and served the community until the early 1970s.

1934 - MAYOR F. P. MARSOLAN Mayor from 1934 - 1939

1939 - MAYOR THOMAS J. CHAMPAGNE Mayor from July 1, 1939 - October 1, 1939

September 1, 1939 - August 15, 1945 World War Two

September 24, 1939 - June 24, 1969 HUBIE GALLAGHER AT CHS

For almost thirty years, 1939 to 1969, Coach Hubert S. "Hubie" Gallagher was an outstanding coach and teacher. In 1983, he was named to the Louisiana High School Hall of Fame. In 1939, he not only coached all sports, but taught civics, social studies and physical education. He got his first assistant coach in 1942, and in the following years some of his assistants included Freddie Seal, Tommy Bell, Jack Salter and Allie Smith.

1939 - MAYOR HEBERT FREDERICK Mayor from 1939 - 1945

1941 - THE COW DOME CONSTRUCTED

The old stands at the athletic field were replaced by a new stadium built by the WPA in 1941, and it became familiarly known as "the cow dome".

1945 - OLD FREEZER PLANT 526 North New Hampshire Street

Built in 1945 as the Growers Cooperative Association and better known as the "Old Freezer Plant," this building holds the distinction of being the first and only community freezer plant in the area. At a time when most families did not have their own freezers, this building once housed many a holiday turkey or ham. Many residents still remember picking up their store of meat from the freezer.

1945 - MAYOR EMILE MENETRE Mayor from 1945 - 1965

Emile Menetre

1945 "LYON HIGH" CHANGED BACK TO "COVINGTON HIGH"

Again the name was changed in 1945 from Lyon High back to Covington High since the law was that no school could be named after a person still living.

1950 - 1950 CENSUS

In 1950 the population of Covington was 5,113.

1955 - PLAYMAKERS ORGANIZED

Playmakers Inc. was organized in 1955 as a non-profit voluntary amateur theater and still functions as an organization for the promotion of dramatic interests in the Covington area.

1956 - CAUSEWAY OPENED

The original causeway bridge over Lake Pontchartrain was a two-lane span measuring 23.86 miles (38.40 km) in length. It cost $30.7 million and opened in 1956.

1958 - ST. TAMMANY ART ASSOCIATION

The St. Tammany Art Association was founded in 1958 by a small group of civic-minded individuals dedicated to bringing art to western St. Tammany Parish.

1959 - EARL K. LONG SANITY HEARING

Governor Earl K. Long's sanity hearing was held in the school gym What school? in 1959. Long had been committed to the state mental hospital in Mandeville.

1960 - 1960 CENSUS

In 1960, the population grew to 6,754.

1961 - NEW CHS GYM BUILT

In 1961, a new gymnasium was built.

1963 – 1995 THE JACK SALTER ERA

Under the guidance of Coach Jack Salter (258 Wins from 1963-95 (258-111-8) [69.5%]) Covington High achieved multiple State Championship appearances, including the 1976 State Championship Title. He was inducted into the Louisiana High School Hall of Fame in 2012.

Jack Salter

1965 ROSENWALD SCHOOL CLOSES

1965 MAYOR GILES PENNINGTON Mayor from 1965 - 1967

1966 - PINEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL

In 1966, the school board opened up Pine View High School as a co-ed facility.

1967 - MAYOR ERNEST J. COOPER Mayor from 1967 - 1991; Retired as Mayor

Ernest J. Cooper

May 10, 1969 - CAUSEWAY NEW SPAN OPENED

A parallel two-lane span, 1/100th of a mile (15m) longer than the original, opened on May 10, 1969, at a cost of $26 million.

1970 - 1970 CENSUS

In 1970, the population was 7,170, but this was just the town. New subdivisions were being developed, and in the early 1960's when the space program brought thousands of engineers and other workers to the Michoud Plant and NASA installations, the influx became a flood. Between 1960 and 1968, St. Tammany Parish grew 62.3 percent in population, increasing from 38,643 in 1960 to 71,388 in 1968.

October 13, 1974 - COVINGTON HIGH SCHOOL BURNS

On October 14, 1974, the local newspaper headline read: "FIRE DESTOYS HIGH SCHOOL." Covington High School was destroyed byfire on Sunday morning, and the event was witnessed by hundreds of spectators who gathered in the chilly early morning air to see the end of the longtime education institution.

1975 - CHS NEW BUILDING

After school let out for the summer, the move was made to a new building. Using the insurance money, already an addition of fourteen classrooms was being added to the new school, but they weren't completed until the following January. In the meantime, the $1.7 million new school had only 36 teaching stations to accommodate about 1,000 students. The old school had 46 classrooms.

November 1, 1967 - CHS STATE CHAMPS

1981 - NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Covington's center was named the Division of St. John, now the historic district. The town was laid out in a unique pattern of squares (ox lots), which were accessed by alleyways. This unique layout is largely responsible for the Division of St. John's placement on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

1984 - COVINGTON FOOD BANK FOUNDED

The Covington Food Bank was originally founded as the Food Bank Inc. of St. Tammany and was located at 342 North Columbia Street. The idea for a food bank was planted at a meeting of the Ministerial Alliance of Covington by Deacon Skip Grafanini of St. Peter Catholic Church, who later went on to become the director of the food bank in January of 1985.

1987 - COVINGTON A MAIN STREET COMMUNITY

In response to a slumping economy and decline downtown, the city applied to become a "Main Street" community and was accepted in 1987. The National Main Street Program is a downtown revitalization program, which is administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

1991 - MAYOR KEITH J. VILLERE Mayor from 1991 - 2003

Keith Villere

1997 - THREE RIVERS ART FESTIVAL CREATED

Established in 1997, The Three Rivers Art Festival has flooded the streets of downtown Covington with activities, music, color, and most importantly, art. It has grown from 49 to hundreds of exhibiting artists. The festival attracts a sophisticated buying public and a talented group of artists and fine craftsmen from all over the country, and it draws more than 50,000 visitors each year.

2000 - 2000 CENSUS

The population was 8,483.

March 2000 FINAL FRIDAY BLOCK PARTY CREATED

This free family event features a classic car show, live and DJ entertainment, food and drinks, and the shops and galleries are open late. The Columbia Street Block Party is held on the last Friday of each month from March through October.

2003 - ST. TAMMANY JUSTICE CENTER OPENS

2003 -MAYOR CANDACE WATKINS

Mayor from 2003 - 2011; First female mayor of Covington

Candace Watkins

August 29, 2005 - HURRICANE KATRINA

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States.

2010 - 2010 CENSUS

The population was 8,765.

2011 - MAYOR MICHAEL B. COOPER

Mike Cooper

JULY 4, 2013 - COVINGTON BICENTENNIAL

Covington celebrated its 200^th birthday on July 4, 2013.

Bicentennial Poster by Artist Suzanne King

 

CHS Graduates in 1923

 Here's a group photo of the 1923 Covington High Graduation Class. Click on the image to make it larger.

Covington High Basketball - 1922

 Here's a photo of the Covington High Basketball Team back in 1922. Click on the image to make it larger. 

Covington Bulk Petroleum Storage 1931

 This photo shows the Covington Bulk Station for Texaco petroleum products located, in 1931, at the intersection of 27th Avenue and Van Buren Streets. The view is looking eastward. 

It was on a spur railroad track off the main line of the Baton Rouge, Hammond and Eastern rail line, part of the IC System. The spur track also served the Gulf, Mobile and Northern rail line. Photo by the Diet Photo Shop of Hammond, La, taken on Sept. 1, 1931.

Click on the image to make it larger. 

CHS Commencement Program - 1927

 Here's the commencement program for the Covington High School graduation in 1927, some ninety-eight years ago. With names, class motto, and school administrators. Click on the image to make it larger. 

It took place at the Majestic Theater on New Hampshire Street.

 

Firefighting Crew in Covington 116 Years Ago

 A group photograph of Chemical Company No. 1, one of Covington's Volunteeer Firefighting Outfits, back in 1909.  

Click on the above image to make it larger. 

Parish Fair Schedule - 2025

 Here's the day-by-day schedule for this year's St. Tammany Parish Fair, to be held at the fairgrounds in Covington. Click on the image below to make it larger and more readable. 

Be sure to put the Fair Parade on your calendar. It starts at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 3, and winds its way through downtown Covington, up Columbia Street, and ending at the parish fairgrounds in time for the Opening Ceremonies at 11 a.m.

Links of Interest:

St. Tammany Parish Fair History

The 1971 Parish Fair Booklet

Parish Fair Queen - 1925

Parish Fair Doubloons

Fair Parade Pictures - 1983

St. Tammany Parish Fair 2016

Fairgrounds Entrance Gate

St. Tammany Parish Fair Parade 2017

Fair Association Leaders

The 1987 Parish Fair Booklet Photo Album

Patriots Day Is Thursday, Sept. 11

     Local military veterans are remembering today, September 11, is "Patriots Day," a day to recall the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center complex in New York City. This was the tragic event that led to the war in Afghanistan in which so many American military members suffered and died.

   Lane Carson of Covington, president of the St. Tammany Veterans Foundation, Inc., stated that the "Remember Our Fallen Heroes" project helps St. Tammany citizens to remember their sacrifices.

     "On September 11, and as an old Vietnam vet, I know how easy it is for the public to want to forget, move on and put some wars behind them," Carson said.

    "But we must never forget and always remember our Fallen Heroes who stepped up since 9/11 when 19 terrorists hijacked four American airliners and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City along with our Pentagon, which killed 2,977 of our people including our own Lou Williams of Mandeville, Louisiana."

    Carson went on to explain that since 9/11, nearly 2 million United States military personnel have been involved in the past 20 years as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom's Sentinel in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the world. 

    Over 7,000 were killed in action of which 144 gave their lives from Louisiana like LCpI Justin D. MCLeese USMC from Covington. Over 50,000 were wounded like Cpl Matt Cole USMC also of Covington, who came home and worked for the LDVA processing disability claims for his fellow veterans and now heads up the LCpI Justin D. McLeese Marine Corps Detachment #1487.

    Carson added that the 144 killed in action included a heavy reliance on the Louisiana National Guard who deployed more than 25,000 soldiers and airmen with approximately 35 Louisiana guardsmen killed in action which made up about 25 percent of those total "Killed in Action."

    "As a result, the St. Tammany Veterans Foundation, Inc. (STVF) / Heroes Farewell wanted to honor all our Fallen Heroes who have sacrificed so much for us in the Global War on Terror. A couple of years ago, our organization, affiliated with the Heroes Farewell project, teamed up with FL+WB Architects, designers of the St. Tammany Veterans Memorial Plaza, at the St. Tammany Justice Center in Covington. and had the firm design a beautiful Fallen Heroes Memorial for placement at the new Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery off Interstate 12 near Slidell."

Lane Carson

    The Memorial is located at the SELA Veterans Cemetery which is adjacent to Louisiana National Guard Camp Villere off Airport Road and 1-12 in Slidell. It consists of an engraved brick path, surrounded by gardens and 2 benches all leading to a 4-foot pedestal supporting a 5-foot Fallen Soldier Battlefield Cross with plaques showing the faces and names of all the Fallen Heroes from Louisiana and an explanation about the "9/11 Attacks" and the Global War on Terror. 

    "It is very important that our young people know the history of "9/11" and never forget," Carson continued. "All six U.S. military branch insignias plus the U.S. and LANG flags and plaque mark the site for all to see and remember our fallen." 

    The memorial  features The Fallen Soldiers Battlefield Cross, a symbolic replacement of a cross or memorial marker, on the battlefield or at the base camp for a soldier who has been killed. It is made up of the soldier's rifle stuck into the ground or into the soldier's boot with helmet on top and their military ID tags placed on the cross. The purpose is to show honor and respect for the dead on the battlefield.

Click on the image above to make it larger. 

    "Just as we have memorialized and not forgotten our Fallen Heroes in the past who gave their lives for their country from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and now Iraq and Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror, please remember Patriot Day, September I I, as an opportunity to honor their sacrifice and especially support the Fallen Heroes Memorial at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell.

    Carson is a combat wounded Vietnam Veteran, former Legislator and Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veteran Affairs

For further information to help Fallen Heroes Memorial, interested persons can email lane.carson@att.net, phone 985-867-0747 or mail 321 N. Vermont St., Covington, LA 70433.

St. Tammany Veterans Memorial Plaza, Covington

Links for Additional Information:

Memorial Dedicated on May 24

Memorial Day 2025

Katrina Retrospective

 A 14 minute video showing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the public schools in St. Tammany was shown at the recent School Board meeting in Slidell. Here's a link to that video. 

Click on the "Play Triangle" above to view the video. 

It is an inspiring story of how the school system pulled itself together after the storm so that schools could re-open in just over a month and life could slowly begin to normalize. 

I worked in the Public Information Office at the school board at the time, and Linda Roan, the director, and I were kept busy sending out press releases, notices to displaced school board personnel and information about how some schools had to share their facilities with other schools that had been totally destroyed. 

The Covington High School gym became a shelter

Since banks and ATM's were not available for weeks afterwards, it was a difficult time for many school board employees (as well as everyone else in the parish) who had bills to pay, houses to repair, and flooded cars to replace. 

I recall the huge trash removal trucks with their mechanical claws that would roam neighborhood to neighborhood, picking up large piles of limbs and trees that had been uprooted.

Links of interest:

Hurricane Katrina

Brock Restored

Slidell's Changing Times

Hurricane Katrina 16 Years Ago

Nash Roberts

Rabbit Island

Covington Miniaturized

Many kinds of artists ply their trade in St. Tammany Parish, working in a wide array of styles and media. One of the oldest forms of art is that of miniaturization, that is, making miniatures of people, scenes and architectural models, many times for use in dioramas in museums.

Matt Hardey of Covington is one such artist, but he has combined these miniaturization skills with his love of model railroading. As result, for the past 32 years he has been building a model train layout that showcases downtown Covington as it looked in 1927. He went way back to a time when trains, both passenger and freight, were almost a daily routine for the growing city. 

The layout occupies a wide shelf all around the room perimeter, about four feet off the floor, with the walls painted blue with white fluffy clouds artistically added for a sunny day background. A large number of realistic looking "trees" from two to 12 inches in height line the wall, giving the whole layout an amazingly realistic setting. The trains are HO scale, so that calls for a 1:87 downscaling of the buildings on both sides of the train track. 

That makes constructing them and decorating them a challenge sometimes, even though there are model train layout building kits that can supply tiny sheets of corrugated tin, bricks, and almost microscopic pieces of lumber. Many of the building walls are put together using separate small pieces of lumber glued on a frame. 

Click on the images to make them larger. 

His layout includes miniature versions of the Covington Grocery and Grain building, the Delta Pine Products factory (which burned down many years ago), and the St. Tammany Manufacturing and Ice Plant (which housed the city's first electrical power generators).  All three of those were in the area that is now the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center and its parking lots. His rendition of the area included a group of pipes that passed overhead across Jefferson Avenue, leading from one section of the Delta Pine Plant to another section where products were processed and packaged. Cars had to drive under the rack of piping when on Jefferson, he said. 

The Alexius Bros. Hardware store and lumber yard is portrayed, complete with stacks of wood and signage painted on the side. Further along is Gibson Street, with a cattle corral where Marsolan's Feed Store would be, a church building (identified from old postcards) is depicted where Downtown Drugs is now located. On nearby Vermont Street, he has two old residential buildings with porches, one of which is still there. 

On the other end of Gibson he has a representation of Nathan's Sandwich Shop building (originally Charlie's Bar and now Mattina Bella Restaurant). Next to that is the two story building with a second floor front balcony that was occupied by a hotel, a bar, and a restaurant. Across the "street" from that is an old hotel building, the Commercial  Hotel, which would later become Hebert's Cleaners. 

Downtown Covington in 1927 would not be complete without the Little Napoleon Bar at the corner of Gibson and Columbia, and Hardey has that faithfully reproduced in miniature, based on newspaper photographs and postcards. It was a happening place. 

The Little Napoleon Bar and Gibson St. Hotel

The detail in the buildings is extraordinary. 

Some of his re-creations may be the wrong color, he admits, but he does whatever research he can to determine the actual color of the historic buildings, often relying on the memories of old-timers who remember what the structure looked like before it was torn down. 

That was not a problem when he recreated the Covington train depot, since it is still standing, though long since converted to office space. He did go into quite a bit of detail with the train depot, even making the windows clear so visitors could look into the interior and see the waiting benches and the people sitting on them. He even has some chalkboards hanging on the wall, one with the train schedule and the other with  a map of the railroad track system. The print is so small they are unreadable without a magnifying glass, but they are there. 

Local architects bought the depot building from the railroad in 1982, he said, and  Hardey was able to get a copy of the depot plans from the new owner. He used those plans to construct his replica in miniature. He wound up spending a lot of time on the train depot building, but it was the center focus of his entire train layout, so it was worth it. 

The train depot

(Click on the images to make them larger)

Behind the train depot is the famous Covington water tower on Theard Street, with its water storage tank suspended far above the landscape. Each of the four support legs of the water tower has the recognizable criss-cross metal bars (which took a while to glue into place). Today the water tower is a key landmark overlooking the Covington Trailhead. A stylized illustration of an early Covington train locomotive graces the side of the tank today. 

Hardey hasn't yet built a model of the water plant's historic red and white building on Theard St. underneath the water tank, but he is gathering research and preparing to put one together. He found the plans for the original water tower building at Covington city hall, so he will be using that for precise measurements. 

In an effort to represent many of the landmark business operations in Covington he included many business and industrial locations although they were only adjacent to downtown. That included a Standard Oil storage area with several tanks, since Covington hosted several storage and supply facilities. 

Many of the buildings in his layout he didn't have any plans for, so he had to research, design, and lay out the floorplan and frame structure himself. 

While some his buildings didn't actually exist in 1927 Covington, he added special structures to honor his friends and acquaintances. He labelled one building Glockner's Fresh Seafood, in honor of the Mandeville family that made a name for themselves in that trade. Inside he built miniature wash stations to clean the fish and crawfish. 

Another building was named after the late Robert Seago, an area band leader and also a model train enthusiast. Seago was also a well-known artist, and he helped Hardey paint the clouds in the sky that surrounds his masterpiece of miniature downtown Covington.

One wall of his train layout represents the train track and downtown buildings of Bogalusa. That helps portray the scenario of where logs from St. Tammany would be transported by rail to the paper mill there. Another section of the track along the wall represents 1927 New Orleans, where the tracks offered several interchange connections to Covington and all points north. 

"Sometimes we have three guys in here all running separate operations of the train system, and one guy handles the carloads coming out of Bogalusa to Covington that are then replenished with carloads going back into Bogalusa," he explained. "A railroad simulator," Hardey says.

It must call for some intense coordination when three separate train engineers are trying to complete their assigned tasks on one big layout. It is a small-scale testament to the ingenuity of those pioneers in big train transport operations that conducted the business of the nation, from one end to the other, back in the days following the industrial revolution. 

He noted that the tracks that went to Folsom from Covington were taken up around 1920 so it didn't apply to his 1927 layout. During their life span the Folsom tracks brought many carloads of timber from the piney woods into Folsom's big saw mill there, and the resulting lumber was shipped by boat to points around the world. 

When one of his fellow model train enthusiast friends ran out of room in his house for his model train layout, he gave the layout to Hardey. But, when the fellow enthusiast bought a bigger house last year, Hardey decided to give the section back to him. It freed up some space for more Covington buildings and landscapes. 

The background scenery is composed of all kinds of trees, but it is not necessary indicative of the actual landscape surrounding downtown Covington. 

Off in one corner, the train track passes over a tranquil river, the Bogue Falaya, with a miniature fisherman in a boat and his buddy fishing from the bank. That portion of the track in actual scale reality is now Tammany Trace, a recreational bicycle trail which, in the 1990's, commandeered the train track route from downtown Covington all the way to the Salmen Nature Park near Slidell. 

Hardey mentioned that in Covington around 1927, there were passenger trains coming in twice per day. 

Some portions of the layout feature train operations that didn't actually occur in Covington. One of those is a coal dumping station, where coal cars travel out onto an elevated section of track and pour their carloads of coal into waiting dump trucks. He had the kit parts to build one of those, so he built it and put it in a corner far away from the downtown Covington section.

One such building represents a locomotive workshop, where locomotives under repair would go in and have crews maintain the engines. That building even features a pit underneath a portion of the track so repair crews could access the under carriage workings. There wasn't one of those in Covington, but it's a reflection of the special maintenance demands of running a railroad. 

Another structure tucked in a corner is a gantry crane, which features an overhead lifting mechanism that could pick up heavy machinery off of a flatbed train car and then slide over and place it on a truck bed. Someone gave him the gantry crane set up, so he put it together and placed it where it would be noticed, although not part of the downtown Covington scene. 

The responsibility of building such a train layout that mimics the operation of a real railroad also brings with it the responsibility of maintaining the dozens of component parts. He says it is a constant job to check the buildings and structures for things that have fallen out of place or need spiffing up. The whole thing being on a platform four feet off the floor gives him the space to crawl under it all and connect wires to all the building lights, exterior and interior. The underneath space is also filled with roll-around cabinets filled with tools, parts, and train cars. 

All the building structures were glued together, piece by piece, using several different kinds of glue. He work bench is on one wall, and its offers a wide variety of small screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers and tweezers. 

For now, plans call for a few more key buildings, a little more work on the Bogalusa train section, and just keeping an eye out for new projects. 

Hardey can explain which railroads originally served the Covington area, their history, their business merges over the years, and the important mode of transportation it provided. 

Hardey also explained the workings of modern-day model trains, saying that the locomotives now contained computer chips that receive electronic signals from the tracks. Those signals come from a central computer with a number of controls. Each locomotive has its own electronic identity, and each track has its own electronic identify, so to enjoy moving the trains along the layout all one has to do is push on the buttons. We are all familiar with the way electric trains used to work, but starting in the early 1990's computers hit model train control systems and everything changed. Locomotives now puff smoke and blow their whistles on computer commands. 

Modern day full-size train operations use the same sort of computerized systems. 

He loves the model train layout project, declining to speculate how many hours he has put into the project over the years, but saying it is better than playing golf or hanging around bars. As far as the train layout representing 1927 Covington, "the research goes on and on," he said.

He got his first train when he was seven years old living in Covington. Now somewhat older, his dream is that one day, after he is gone, someone will come into his train layout room and re-locate the downtown Covington section into a local museum somewhere. It is definitely museum-quality work, and a great bird's eye view of how Covington used to look, and also how important the train was to the growing community. 

Model train enthusiasts have their own association, of course, and a regional convention was recently held in Baton Rouge. Some model train aficionados have much larger layouts than Hardey, he said. In fact, a few of those train model enthusiasts in the Covington area have bigger train layouts housed in separate big buildings.

It is an artistic expression of history, a form of the ancient art of miniaturized representations of historic people and places, and it certainly offers a multi-faceted trip down memory lane. Except in this case, Memory Lane is about a quarter-inch wide.

The Bogalusa Train Yard

Links of interest:

St. Tammany Ice & Manufacturing Company

Alexius Brothers Hardware

The History of the Covington Grocery & Grain Company

Little Napoleon House

Nathan's Sandwich Shop

Mackie Pine Oil Plant Fire

Covington Train Depot

Covington's Waterworks Building