World War I Exhibit Opens

The Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies launched an extensive exhibit on World War I Wednesday afternoon on the third floor of the SLU Sims Library on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.

The exhibit draw a small crowd as Dr. Samuel Hyde Jr., director of the center, welcomed those present and gave a brief introduction to the exhibit.  

The event featured a number of panels displaying a large number of photographs from the war, plus posters, official papers, and weapons of trench warfare, as well as uniforms, dioramas, audio recordings of trench warfare, and also the casualties, medical care, and life after the war. Some exhibits featured items on loan from persons throughout southeast Louisiana, including St. Tammany Parish.

There was a focus on the horrors of war, the invention of the machine gun and the introduction of gas/chemical warfare. There was also information on the influenza epidemic and unsanitary conditions in the trenches that led to disease and death.

The first panel tried to explain the cause of the first world war, but as in all political stirrings, it was a number of things all boiling over at the same time. Special attention was given to the things that occurred in World War I that set the stage for World War II some twenty years later. 

Entitled "The War That Did Not End All Wars: Southeast Louisiana and the Horror of WWI," the exhibit was put together with the help of many donors and contributors. 

It will run through December 10, with the archives room open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and on Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. 

The website for the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies and Archives is located at the following link: http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/index.html

FFA Members and Advisor Attend PTA Meeting - 1953

The FFA Chapter members and their advisor from Slidell High School visited a PTA Meeting back in April, 1953, some sixty-five years ago. Here are the names. Click on the image to make it larger.

The Mandeville Pottery

The story of an old pottery site discovered on Bayou Castine in Mandeville was told by Melba Colvin in an article published April 29, 1973. Her research unveiled many details on the operation of the pottery at the site which at the time was being threatened by a new boat launch project.

Here is the article. 

MANDEVILLE — Bayou Castine in Mandeville is an old, scenic waterway, one with a rich history filled with mention of Indians, French explorers and enterprising businessmen when St. Tammany Parish was young.

The historic bayou was named by Bienville when he passed through the area in 1699, and was visited by Penicant and eleven other Frenchmen in 1705 through 1706 where they stayed for over a year. They came to the bayou when food supplies grew short at Fort Biloxi and stayed with the Colipassas and Nasitoches Indians.

It was this brief stay which produced detailed accounts of how these Indians lived.

Historic Bayou Castine

The name Bayou Castine appears frequently in the old English and Spanish land  grants concerning areas in the vicinity of Mandeville. From ancient times, the bayou has played  an important part in the lives of the people living near it.

Today the bayou offers the people of Mandeville a harbor and a scenic border on the east. A recent proposal to build another boat ramp on the bayou has drawn opposition from some of the residents, however, since it appears the proposed boat launch would disrupt the site of an old pottery works that at one time was in full production on the edge of the bayou.

Melba E. Colvin, a resident of Mandeville, has done research on the pottery with archivist of St. Tammany, Mrs. Amos Neff, and has shown that the old pottery site is only an indication of the wealth of activity that once went on there.

The site of the proposed boat launching ramp at the foot of Monroe Street is known by many of the older residents as the "pottery" because of the many pieces of clay pottery, or shards, that have been found there.

Louis Vial has said that his grandfather had worked at a pottery there, and Walter R. Smith recalled that he used to obtain many loads of shell from the area for road building in the year 1912. He would use Tennessee wagons and double teams to transport the pieces of shell and clay found in the bayou there.

He also remembers seeing human skulls, bones and arrowheads among the pieces of pottery.

Indian Dances At The Pottery

Edgar Sharp, now 67, remembers that his father's older brothers would attend Indian dances at the "pottery" playing their violins for the festivity. These dances occurred between 1890 and 1900, Sharp recalled, saying that Indians from all over the area would gather for the dances, coming from Chinchuba, Lewisburg, Abita Springs, Lacombe, and Madisonville. Smith said that he remembered attending such Choctaw dances, also.

Prior to this, even, pottery was being made at the location.

Records from the St. Tammany Courthouse show that on February 7, 1848, there was an auction held to sell the pottery of Eugene Lamuloniere and his creditors to those of C. de la Bretonne and Co.

The business was described as being on land owned by Louis Coquillou who was Mandeville's first mayor, according to the records. The pottery was located on Bayou Castine (Castaigne on the map then) and pinpointed on an 1895 map.
There were two shops, one of which had an upper story for a wheel used to grind clay, four wheels for potters, boards for drying the wares and two kilns for firing them.

There were also four log cabins for lodging workman, a stable and three houses. The business was valued at $4,000 at that time. Another lot of ground in the same place was designated as the old "cannery" and consisted of a garden "well disposed" with a cottage for dwelling and "the materials from an ancient shop." All of this was valued at $300.

Among the other assets were "the earthenware remaining in the shop in Mandeville, on which a value of $300 would have been placed had it been dried, cooked and glazed."

Lamuloniere lists among the causes of his business failure a lack of activity throughout the business, or, in his words, "as having carried his passive to such a distance from his active: the fault of the bricklayer, having built the kiln in July of 1847." The structure collapsed during the first cooking and destroyed all the ware contained in it.

Two new kilns had to be built to replace the one that fell in and later four whole kilns full of ware wre lost because the pieces had been frozen, cracked in firing and were tossed out. This misfortune could be certified by books, witnesses, or by the enormous heap of broken pieces laying about the shop, said Lamuloniere.

He made a closing statement to the effect that the list of property contained all the articles he possessed, either moveable or immoveable, except the clothes and linen he and his family owned, his weapons, and his instruments necessary for the plying of his trade from which he made his living, as the law authorized.

The document was signed by Martin G. Penn, judge of the Eighth Judicial District at that time. 


Workers Named

An attached list of 49 workers and creditors included the names of many whose descendants are now living in the area. Among those named were Hugh Spell of Mandeville, Francois Cousin of Bayou Lacombe, and Louis Coquille of Mandeville. Potters named in the list were Michel, Christian Edringer and Babcok, all of Mandeville.

Joseph Viab, a versatile man who would later build houses and schooners, was also among those named as workers and creditors.

The history of the "pottery" at the intersection of Monroe street and Bayou Castine is one of continuing interest for historians and sociologists of the area. It is hoped that the building of a boat ramp can be postponed or the location moved until more thorough research can be completed.

Click on the images to make them larger. 

 

For years the parish had been commended for its potential for making pottery out of native clays. 

Melba Colvin was a member of the Friends of the Archives

See also:

City of Mandeville Preserves Pottery Hill  

 

NOLA.com article on Protecting Pottery Hill

The Mandeville Miracle

The Old Mandeville Historic Association met Sunday night at Nuvolari's Restaurant, and I was privileged to speak to them about "The Mandeville Miracle." Here are the text and pictures that went along with that talk.

Speaking to the Mandeville group

It was a three-part talk. The first part was about the Battle of Lake Pontchartrain during the American Revolution. You can read about that by clicking on THIS LINK.

The second part was about the building and repairs to the Mandeville lakefront seawall. You can read about that by clicking on THIS LINK. 

The third part was about how small town Mandeville became a nationally-famous lakeside resort, and then over the years, gradually went back to being a small town with a family-oriented lakefront. You can find that portion of the talk below.

Forty-five years ago, in 1973, some Mandeville friends and I put together a slide show entitled “Legacy of a Small Town.” The slide show was created during a time when multiple proposals were being made to build high-rise apartment buildings on the Mandeville lakefront. 

 

Click on the images to make them larger.

Above are the only three pictures I could find in my files from that original slide show.  It featured about 20 to 30 pictures taken around Mandeville showing people working in their garden, kids playing, trees, moss, old buildings, everything that told the story of Mandeville's small town lifestyle.

It's interesting that today, 45 years later, you can go out and still take 20 to 30 pictures showing that Mandeville is still, in many ways, a small town. How can that possibly be? It's been four and a half decades. Well, perhaps it’s a miracle. 

Throughout the last two decades of the 19th century St. Tammany had a growing reputation as a healthy place to live, and no other Tammany town was in as good a position as Mandeville to take advantage of that reputation. It wasn't long, however, before Abita Springs came to the forefront of that effort. 

Mandeville by all measures was doing great in the early 1900’s, mainly because of its lakefront and harbors. There were lots of summer homes, weekend retreats, and thriving community improvement organizations. The movers and shakers of the parish were becoming aggressive in their efforts to draw attention to the beauty and great lifestyle offered by the north shore.

 

 

 A real estate advertisement from 1913 illustrates the local land promotional efforts.

More people began moving over to Mandeville, Abita, Covington….

Dozens of flyers, brochures, and advertisements began going out telling the nation what a great place Mandeville was. A Chamber of Commerce was formed…

Mandeville was not just for residents any longer. Visitors were pouring in by the hundreds. Here are photographs of some of the several large bathing house piers.

 

This water slide looks like fun.  

From a Chamber of Commerce brochure in 1929

“Louisiana's only all year water resort hotel, The St. Tammany, on the 100 mile shore line of Lake Pontchartrain, is located at Mandeville.“

"Mandeville has unrivaled facilities for Bathing, Yachting and Fishing. The Sportsman's Paradise.“

“Louisiana's Riviera: the superb climate makes Mandeville, in the heart of the famous Ozone belt, a delightful recreation ground and health resort. Sunshine and artesian waters abound. In Mandeville, flowers are always in bloom, delicious natural food supplies always available.”

“We are developing, cultivating and beautifying what will within the next decade, be known as the American Garden of Eden.... Mandeville."

The Mandeville lakefront was a fun place, for residents, for visitors, and even for companies from New Orleans who had their own camp retreats…

All across the lakefront, there were things happening…..

Jackson Park became a tourist camp for people traveling by car, there were dances, picnics….

Quotes from "Fair Mandeville on the Lake Shore," an article in the Friday April 4, 1902, New Orleans Daily Picayune, says that "Jackson Park is a private property where picnics and lawn parties are frequently held. It is filled with great magnolias and oak trees, which are festooned with quantities of the longest moss to be found in this section. It is there the mocking birds hold high carnival, and hold spellbound all who chance to pass that way,"

According to the Mandeville City website, the expansive piece of property was purchased by Jules Manaud in 1870 and covers a quarter of the square beginning at the corner of Coffee and Jefferson Streets and bounded on the south by the Ravines aux Coquilles. By the 1880's the park figured heavily in the social life in Mandeville. There were balls held for members of various organizations and dances held for the public most weekends. A variety of bands and musical groups arrived for the festivities via the regular steamer traffic.

Lakefront Hotels

Across the lake front were several large hotels. All throughout town were boarding houses and rental cottages. 

A map of the hotels, restaurants, and other atttactions 

 

 

Early Mandeville was not only was the vacation haven for New Orleans residents, but the railroads also had big plans for bringing thousands of visitors down from the North each year to vacation on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain in a number of big hotels...

 

 

Hotels, bars, swimming….

Three or four boats daily crossed Lake Pontchartrain bringing people to Mandeville and beyond. On weekends there were hundreds of people arriving, during the summer there were thousands coming to Mandeville, Abita Springs and Covington. 

The social life was dizzying….

Mandeville’s success in attracting visitors, offering hotel and restaurant services, and promoting itself nationwide was a shining example of how to publicize a community’s assets.

 

 Newspaper Editorial Extolling Virtues of Mandeville
St. Tammany Farmer, Nov. 20, 1920

Below is an article where a group of promoters from Biloxi, Mississippi, came to Mandeville to promote the idea of calling the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Mandeville  “America’s Riviera.” This was a big deal, and several joint promotional efforts were proposed and taken advantage of linking the Mississippi Gulf Coast with Mandeville’s outstanding resort attractions.   

Mandeville even had its own casino in the late 1800’s. This building was to later become Bechac’s restaurant. Casino gambling was outlawed in 1895, and 100 years later, in 1991, it was re-instated by the state. Almost immediately there were 15 riverboat casinos established statewide.  If Mandeville had a lakefront casino 130 years ago, why doesn’t it have a lakefront casino today?

Because the people didn’t want it. The St. Tammany parish government at first turned down a casino proposal for the marshlands southeast of Slidell, then in 2021, a casino proposal made it on the voter's ballot. The voters turned down the idea with 63 percent against, in spite of a massive million-dollar campaign promoting it, a campaign that included numerous mailouts,media and billboard advertising and door to door contacts. If that casino had gone through, casinos would probably have been on the agenda in Mandeville and Madisonville.

Above is a picture of Biloxi, Miss., back in the 1930’s when it was just a small fishing village. Remember the promoters who came from Biloxi and tried to claim the title of America’s Riviera for Biloxi, Mandeville, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast? 

Today the Biloxi gulf shore strip offers flashing neon signs, high-rise casino hotels with thousands of rooms, night clubs, and franchise fast food restaurants. 

 

Biloxi, 2016 (Source: Biloxi City Facebook Page)

In comparison, this was Mandeville in the early 1900’s.

Below is an aerial photograph of the Mandeville lakefront in 1975. The commercial activity had diminished considerably over the years between 1926 and 1975. There were fewer commercial businesses and more residential homes being built where the big hotels were formerly located.

 

One by one, over the years, the big Mandeville lakefront hotels closed. Hurricane storm surges repeatedly devastated some of the businesses, causing some of them to close permanently. The Lake Theater closed. The night club located in the Lake Theater building closed. The Seafood Festival stopped coming to the Mandeville harbor.  
  
The photograph below is the Mandeville lakefront today.  

What’s missing from this picture? Where are all the high-rise apartment complexes that were proposed,  the multi-story hotels and casinos? Today there are only three or four restaurants and a couple of bars. There are several low-key bed and breakfast accommodations in historic residences near the lakefront. Most of Lakeshore Drive is residential now, and the lakefront itself went from a nationally-promoted resort to small-town family-oriented jogging trails, tranquil gazebos, and children’s playgrounds.

So after considering all the public relations hype years ago about Mandeville becoming America’s Riviera, being transformed into America’s Garden of Eden, being promoted as a year-round resort paradise with thousands of visitors flocking to the lakefront every day, what happened? 

 

 It turned out that the legacy of Mandeville is that it would prefer the lakefront to be a family-friendly, safe and relatively quiet small town community recreational place instead of the grandiose visions of what its early promoters promised it would become. And that, in itself, is The Mandeville Miracle.

 

 

CHS 50th "Class of 1968" Reunion

More than a hundred people, graduates and their guests, turned out for the 50th Class Reunion of the Covington High School Class of 1968. The event was held at the Vintage Court Banquet Hall on La. 25 north of Covington.

Click on the images to make them larger. To make prints of these images, follow the directions at the bottom of this blog entry. 

CLICK HERE for a high resolution version of the group picture above, without the oval and writing around it. 

 

These six classmates started kindergarten together at Mrs. Reeder’s on 17th Avenue - and were together through high school graduation- Tommy Rodwig, Vickie Goodger Schoppe, Norman Marsolan, Susan Latham, Pat Gallagher, and Elizabeth Pfeffer Williams

 

Several class members attended Covington High's homecoming football game Friday night. Later that evening, about 20 members enjoyed dinner together at Pat Gallagher's restaurant in Covington. Pat is one of the Class of 1968 graduates.

 

The planning committee for the reunion met several times at Abita Roasting Co. cafe to iron out details of the event. 

Here are a number of photographs from the memory-sharing extravaganza Saturday night at Vintage Court.

 

Several people won awards for various competitions, such as traveling the longest distances, the highest number of kids, grandkids and even great grandkids, and the longest years in military service. 

 

CLICK HERE for a link to the Class of 1968 Facebook Page

In the Class of 1968, there were 187 graduates. For the 50th Class Reunion, there were 68 graduates in attendance, plus guests made over 115 in attendance. Seven faculty members planned to come and five did make the scene. 

 

Dinner was served.

 

Five CHS faculty members from 1968 attended the class reunion: Betty Badeaux, Judy Lacour, Bucky McKee, Sandra Hutcheson, and Curtis Reed. 

 

Memorial Board

 A special memorial board displayed the yearbook pictures of the 38 classmates who had passed away.

A small group of reunion participants continue to meet every two or three months at Covington restaurants to stay in touch and keep up with goings on. Here's a picture of the smaller group enjoying lunch at Gallagher's Restaurant on Tyler St. 

 

See also:

Class of 1968 Yearbook Pictures

Tips on printing these pictures:
1. Click on the picture to make it go to full screen.
2. Then "right click" on the larger picture and choose "View image in new window" to make it go to high resolution version. Go to the new window if necessary. The cursor will change to a magnifying glass with a plus sign on it. 
3. Left click on the picture again to make it go even larger, and then "right click" to access the menu to "save as" or "download image" to your computer. 

Then just open the picture file on your computer and send it to your printer. 

If you want a better quality photographic print, you can copy the file to a flash drive and take it to a CVS or other photo printing place to make prints. CVS also has an online photo-ordering service where you send the image over the internet to them and it will probably be ready for you when you go to pick it up. Not all CVS stores have this photo service.