Frederick Home Is On Historic Register

In 1982 the Frederick Home on Vermont Street in Covington was accepted to the National Registry of Historic Places. Here's the article published about that event 37 years ago. Click on the images to make them larger. 

 

The Frederick House at 228 Vermont St.  was described as a frame, one and a half story, fully developed raised house with Queen Anne/Eastlake ornamentation.

The house is a central hall, double parlor plan structure with a rear kitchen/dining room wing. It is constructed of yellow pine with cypress trim and is raised approximately three feet above the ground on brick piers.

 

The Frederick House in 1982

The five bay facade features six over nine floor-length windows and a chamfered gallery with Eastlake ornamentation in the upper portions. The roof features an unusual double window dormer.

The historic registry description goes on to say that the house is architectually significant as an architectural landmaker within the context of Covington's sizable heritage of late nineteenth and early twentieth century residences.

Under a section titled Architecture, the historic registry text noted that although Covington was founded in 1813, successive fires during the nineteenth century destroyed most of it. As a result, the present historic building stock dates largely from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. At that time the town developed as one of a number of ozone health resort communities north of Lake Pontchartrain, This residential development consisted mainly of shotgun houses, Northshore houses (a local variation of the shotgun house), Queen Anne Revival cottages, small raised cottages (which are architectural descendants of earlier Creole cottages), and bungalows.

"Taken within this context, the Frederick House is conspicuous in several respects.- Firstly, it is one of the largest residences in Covington. Secondly, of Covington's raised cottages, the Frederick House is the only one with a fully developed five bay facade. Finally, the Frederick House has three distinctive ornamental features which are unique in Covington and rare in the rest of the state. These are the styling of the massive front dormer, the curious side gables, and the oriental style balustrades. These features give the Frederick House the status of an individually crafted landmark within an area which is gnerally characterized by lower quality, more standard builder architecture and details of the period.

Politics/Government 

"The Frederick House is significant in the area of politics/government because its builder and owner, Emile "Boss" Frederick, while residing in the house, was a prominent early-twentieth century Covington politician. He served the town as mayor for two terms, was a member of the city council, and as one newspaper put it, "participated in every movement which promoted the interest of his city and parish."

These contributions were made in the early-twentieth century while Frederick was living in the house. He lived there from the time it was built (1890) until his death in 1945 at the age of 88."

 

The Frederick House in 2017

History and Holly Home Tour 2019

The Covington Heritage Foundation will hold its annual History and Holly Home Tour on Sunday, December 8, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

For the first time the tour will include two historic churches. Featured will be four homes in the W. 19th, W. 20th and Jefferson avenues area, as well as Covington Presbyterian Church, and St. Peter Catholic Church.

 
Music will be featured in a special program at St. Peter Catholic Church from 1:30-3:30 p.m. 

The annual home tour has become a perfect outing for Covington residents and out-of-town visitiors to enjoy with friends and family as they walk the pedestrian-friendly route (trams will also be available), touring the seasonally decorated homes and churches, and enjoying the sounds of the season from a harpist and strolling carolers. In addition, there will be new Christmas cards and ornaments (by local artists Suzanne King and Jax Frey, respectively) available for purchase.

 

A map of the home tour. Click on map to enlarge the view.

Tickets are limited and may be purchased online by clicking HERE. On event day, participants will exchange their online tickets for a required wristband at Covington Presbyterian Church, which is serving as tour headquarters, before starting the tour. 

Tickets are also available at the following retail outlets: Southern Hotel, Jefferson House, and Braswell Drugs.

 

Covington Presbyterian Church at 222 S. Jefferson Avenue: Covington Presbyterian Church was founded in 1848 as the Berean Church Covington and was located at the corner of New Hampshire and Independence streets. The first worship service was held in the current location in 1903.
 

Visitors are greeted at the entrance by a majestic live oak which, on April 16, 2018, achieved notoriety by being named "Presbyterian Oak" by the Live Oak Society of the Louisiana Garden Club Federation. The powerful and long-lived oak is represented in the church logo and in the title of the church's strategic plan, "Rooted and Reaching."

Also of note is the chancel stained-glass window created by Stephen A. Wilson of Baton Rouge and dedicated in 1982 and the antique cast-iron fountain that was given to the church in 1983 in memory of Caryl Ann Haney. Church members will give tours of the sanctuary and there will be Christmas music.

 

 St. Peter Catholic Church at 125 E. 19th Avenue: St. Peter Catholic Church was founded in 1843 and is the oldest Catholic church on the Northshore in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The original church was near the Bogue Falaya River, a second church was built in 1892 at the corner of Massachusetts and East Rutland streets, and the current church was built in a traditional style and dedicated in 1940.
 

Of note is the statue of St. Peter on the church facade, which was designed and sculpted by Corrado Parducci; the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue, which is more than 100 years old and was brought from the second church; the statue of the Blessed Mother, which was purchased in 1922 and was also brought from the second church; and the stained‑glass windows that depict the significant events in the life of St. Peter. There will be music from 1:30-3:30 p.m. today in the church for tour participants.

 

507 W. 20th Avenue: Lisa and Peter Wilson built their home in 1989 and have loved living in old Covington for the past 30 years. The home is where they raised their children and now enjoy entertaining their grandchildren. The home has changed several times over the years as the Wilsons adapted to the changing needs of their family. The tornado of 1997 also brought unexpected changes as many old trees were uprooted and landed on their home, while also destroying a barn on the property.

The Wilsons especially enjoy the calm and peaceful nature of their neighborhood, and being beneath the beautiful oak trees continues to be their family's special place.

 

323 W. 19th Avenue: Bill and Conie Abernathy looked at many historic homes in the area before settling on this one in 2009 because it "seemed like such a happy place" and it "stole (their) hearts." The Abernathys relocated to Covington after living in Memphis for almost 30 years when Bill embarked on a second career at SLU after retirement.

Conie says that with a son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren who live in New Orleans and many friends nearby, they have spent many happy days in the home. While there have been cosmetic changes to the house, the only major project has been the addition of a garage.

 

223 W. 19th Avenue: When Randy and Peggy Aultman first saw their home, they recognized that it was in poor shape, yet could see what it once had been and could become again. So, in 1996, they moved from a smaller home on 18th Avenue and began renovations.
 

They added the front porch and the center front door as they turned the duplex back into a single-family home. They removed the three-tone shag carpet to expose heart-of-pine flooring and found wood walls beneath plywood paneling, and also added a fireplace, opened up walls, and installed a
treehouse.

The home was the first that local builder Fred Badon worked on, and legend has it that the owner at the time fed grapefruit to her dog while she watched Fred and the others working on the house to be certain they didn't slack off. The Aultmans have also been told that the small structure at the rear of the house was originally a smokehouse, and that former owners used to enjoy eating dinner on the front porch during the fall months.

243 S. Jefferson Avenue: Jerry and Wanda Braswell have lived in their home for 19 years, though the love affair with it began years earlier for Jerry, who delivered prescriptions to the house when he opened Braswell Drugs. After purchasing the home, which was built in 1897, they spent two years working on it, taking it down to the studs and reconstructing the home's staircase in its original location (it had been moved to the back of the house when the previous owner had converted the upstairs into four apartments).

All of the wood is original to the house, and the doors and ceilings were stripped of many layers of paint during the remodel. Visitors are encouraged to look for the 200-year-old grandfather clock that still tells the correct time twice a day, the painting above the living room fireplace by local artist Robert Cook, and Wanda's Braswell Pharmarcy room. The Braswells are also fond of the spectacular view of St. Peter Catholic Church from the home's beautiful balconies.



See also:

 History and Holly Home Tour 2017

 

Small Town Drug Store - Oliver Hebert

In a small town, the local drug store is often a busy place, but not always in the ways you would think. Here is a column written by Frank Schneider for his "Second Cup" series in the newspaper, date published unknown. It tells about some interesting incidents at Hebert's Drugstore in small town Covington.

Smalltown, La., was once place where neighbors were always near

By Frank Schneider

When Covington was a small town, it was paradise for young­sters. It offered an unrestrained playstyle that could not be dupli­cated in the city regardless of how many parks or swimming pools it offered.

Consider the drugstore, an impor­tant ingredient in the social mix of a small town. The "downtown" cor­ner drugstore in Covington was Hebert's at New Hampshire and Boston, where once the major high­way funneled traffic through the town.

Oliver Hebert moved his drug­store there in 1940 after six years at a location a few blocks away. It's  still there, bearing his name, but under different ownership. When young people assembled there on Sunday mornings, "Mr. Hebert" would be in the rear of the store dispensing poison ivy lotion and rec­ommending balm for sunburn.

But up front was the social sec­tion where the delicious ice cream sodas and malts were concocted. The nectar sodas, with specks of crushed ice and globs of whipped cream, were particularly irresist­ible even for a "chocoholic." I always had one before a chocolate soda. We sat at round porcelain tables and chairs they call "antique ice cream parlor chairs" in Magazine Street shops today.

Oliver Hebert 1955

Everybody knew everybody, said Mr. Hebert's widow, Celeste. She made notes on some of the drug­gist's experiences, and shares these with us:

August 1937 — Mr. S., a stranger from the city, came to town without a tie and was invited to dine out. Would Mr. Hebert please lend him the tie he was wearing? The drug­gist took the man to his home to select a tie from his wardrobe.

August 1937 — The D. family called from outside of Covington at 1 a.m. They needed special medi­cine for their dog who was about to deliver pups. Could Mr. Hebert come out with the medicine and assist in the delivery?

March 1938 — A customer had too much money to carry around and did not do business with the  bank. Mr. Hebert took the money and issued them a check.

July 1938 — Customer wanted to "bor­row" a deck of cards.

1939 — Customer brought a live chicken to the drugstore asking Mr. Hebert to keep it for her while she shopped. He carried the wriggling chicken to the yard behind the store, and when she returned in a taxi he couldn't find the chicken. But he told her he was too busy to retrieve it then; he'd deliver it to her house on his way home. He called his wife. "Do we have a chicken?" There were two chickens cooked for dinner, she said. Mr. Hebert delivered one to the cus­tomer.

1940 — A New Orleans family lost their dog while spending the summer in Coving­ton. They called Hebert's drugstore. "Please put a sign in your window with a description of Vandy for us?" The druggist did, and a woman who found the dog said she was driving to New Orleans that day and would deliver Vandy to his owner.

1940 — A customer on the phone: "Mr. Hebert, please remind me to buy toilet paper when I'm in your store. I know I'll forget."

One customer instructed the "fresh eggs and vegetable man" to deliver her orders to the drugstore where she could pick them up at her leisure.

New Orleans department stores (whose customers did not reside on their routes) delivered packages to the drugstore. It was not unusual to see lawnmowers, garden hoses, wash tubs and 8-foot pecan trees awaiting pickup by department store cus­tomers.

A woman once borrowed one of the drug­  store's "soda chairs" so she could sit outside the movie theater to wait for her children.

An elderly man came in one day request­ing "Americated cotton" (he meant medi­cated) and rattlesnake bones to string around a baby's neck to ease "the teething."

A customer who planned her child's birthday party at a movie theater across the street from the drugstore asked Mr. Hebert to purchase the tickets and hold them for her. And to charge them to her account.

Mrs. M. called one day to complain about all the charges on her bill for toilet tissue. "I live alone and know there are 1,000 sheets on a roll and I could not possibly have used as much as I am charged for." Mr. Hebert adjusted the bill to her liking.

Pat Rittiner recalls her childhood in Abita Springs, so small that there was no high school there. She attended high school in Covington, where there was also a gro­cery called Hebert's. "When we'd forget our lunch money we'd walk to the grocery and borrow money from Miss Teen, Mr. Hebert's sister. After school we visited the grocery until our mother came to pick us up."

That's how small towns were.

Oliver Hebert died in 1968

Click on the above obituary to make it larger and more readable. 

See also:

Hebert's Drugs History

Covington in the 1940's and 1950's

The memories of day-to-day life in Covington in the 1940's and 1950's were written down by Phil Pfeffer, a graduate of Covington High School in 1958. Here is what he shared about those times from 70 years ago. 

Covington in the 1940s and 1950s

By Phil Pfeffer

Everyone talks about the “Good Ole Days.” Let’s take a look.

About 70 years ago, Covington was a sleepy country town of about 5,000 people. It was two hours away from New Orleans to the south of Lake Pontchartrain and two hours east of Baton Rouge. The only industry was a turpentine factory of Delta Pine Products, known earlier as Mackie’s Pine Products. Pine oil as the name suggests was made from pine knots and the logs of pine trees, and the plant was subject to frequent fires.

In those days, the crime rate in Covington was at a minimum. People would get out of their car, without locking it, and leave the keys in the ignition, on a seat or on the dashboard. On a warm, dry day, they would leave the windows rolled down (very few cars had air conditioning). 

A model replica of the Delta Pine Products plant and tanks made by a local railroad enthusiast

The houses were not locked a night or even when the resident was away during the day. On a warm night, the doors and windows were left open for circulation (very few houses had air conditioning). A woman or young girl could walk home after a movie at night without fear of being assaulted. In the 1940s a call to the police may take a while for a response because the police had to call a taxi before they could go to the site.

The Fire Department

The fire department was a completely volunteer unit except for the fire chief. The fire chief and his family lived above the fire station. When a fire broke out, a siren on the city’s water tower alerted the volunteers as to the location of the fire for the volunteers to assemble. For example, if the fire was on 19th avenue, the siren would sound one long blast, followed by nine short ones.

The telephone exchange was located on the northeast corner of New Hampshire street and Independence street. When you picked up your telephone a female voice asked, “Number, Please.” Note that all of the telephone operators were women. You would give the operator the number that you wanted to call, and she would connect you. If you did not know the number of your party, you would ask for “Information.” 

The phone numbers were two, three or four digits. Some numbers had a letter suffix. These were party lines. You might remember that Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies wanted a party line installed in the mansion so that she could eavesdrop on other conversations. Phones with rotary dial systems did not come to Covington until around 1951.

The Coming of Television

Television was in its embryo stage. Not many families had a television and if they did it consisted of a small, round cathode ray tube. The picture was in black and white and tended to roll, skew vertically or was often comprise of “snow.” Replacing the picture tube periodically cost about $90. 

There was only one television station, Channel 6 (WDSU), and it came out of New Orleans. WDSU was later joined by WWL and if you had a high enough antenna and aimed it correctly, you could pick up WBRZ from Baton Rouge. None of these stations operated 24 hours a day. Shows consisted of such classics as “Howdy Doody” and “Morgus the Magnificent.”

Sports on television was minimal. Sometimes there was a professional baseball game shown on Saturday afternoon or a football game on Thanksgiving Day, but the teams were whatever the network wanted to show. Baseball was often on the radio (Mutual Broadcasting System). College games were not on the tube. L.S.U. and Tulane could usually be heard on the radio.


The Local Movie Show

Entertainment was primarily the movie house. The Star Theatre had movies every night. On Sunday and Monday was the main feature for the week. On Saturday night was the weekly cowboy show. Boys would bring their cap pistols and sit on the front row and shoot the bad guys. The cost of admission was nine cents if you were below 12 years old. Otherwise the price was 36 cents. Children would try to lie about their age for the first year after turning twelve. 

The Majestic Theatre was also in Covington, but it was only open on the weekends. The Majestic also had branches in Madisonville and in Mandeville.

On the Mandeville highway were the drive-in theatre and the bowling alley. The drive in was open on the week ends and the teenager would do whatever they had to do to avoid the price of admission. If a girl had a long, full skirt, someone would lie on the floor under the skirt. Boys would get in the trunk of the car and get out once they were inside the fence. Some boys would climb the fence and meet the car and driver inside the fence. Typically, when a couple went to the drive in, they didn’t watch the movie.

The Music Scene

Teenagers were introduced to Rock and Roll. Beginning with “Rock around the Clock,” the airwaves were suddenly filled with Fats Domino, Little Richard, the Platters and soon to be with Elvis. It all drove the parents crazy.

The local hangouts were primarily on Claiborne Hill. The younger crowd would congregate at the Dairy King where a milk shake costs twenty cents and a hamburger cost twenty-five cents. As the crowd grew a little older, Claiborne Inn became the preferred location. There, there were car hops for service. Cokes cost a dime and a beer was twenty-five or thirty cents, depending on the brand. 

 A special was “Chicken in the Basket” consisting of three pieces of chicken, French fries and toast. The cost of the basket was eighty-five cents. Also, on “the Hill” was Village Inn which had a band on Saturday nights, Jim’s which was a more upper-class establishment and the Circle Tavern, better known as “The Bloody Bucket.”

Another popular hangout for the younger set was Harvey’s House. Here there was an ice cream and soda fountain, comic books, pinball machines and on weekends, roller skating in the back at night.

The two Boy Scout troops were Troop 116 and Troop 325. Troop 116 met at St. Peters school. Troop 325 met at the Presbyterian Church on Friday nights and would occasionally go camping. One favorite spot was a boy scout facility, just east of Mandeville near the lake. There were several cub scouts packs around town and one girl scout troop.

With the arrival of summer, it was time to go swimming. The most popular spot was Bogue Falaya State Park at the end of New Hampshire street. Other popular spots were Red Bluff up toward Folsom and Fontainebleau State Park just east of Mandeville. The lake at Fontainebleau was shallow near shore and you had to go out quite a way before the water was waist deep. It was also the location of the annual barbeque held by the Covington Lions Club.
 

The Covington Country Club opened in 1954. The main activities were the swimming pool and the nine-hole golf course. The back nine was added a few years later. There was food and a bar and people where often seen sun bathing by the pool or playing cards inside. One had to own a share of stock in the country club as prerequisite for membership. A share of stock cost $200.

To travel to New Orleans, you had to go around the lake via Slidell. Besides being a longer journey, you had towns of Mandeville, Lacombe and Slidell with their traffic lights. If you got behind a slow car, you had to wait for your chance to pass because it was only a two-lane highway. Travel time was about two hours. The causeway wasn’t opened until the late 1950s. Students at Covington High made temporary and permanent friends with students whose dads came over to work on the causeway construction. It was also about two hours to Baton Rouge with even more town and traffic lights. Here again, Interstate-12 was still on the drawing board.

The Greyhound Bus Connection

One way to go to New Orleans was by the Greyhound bus. The bus originated in Abita Springs, then to the parking lot of the Southern Hotel and made stops in Mandeville, Lacombe and Slidell (remember the White Kitchen) before arriving at the terminal on Canal street. It would also stop along the way if someone on the roadside flagged them down. Once in the City, you would shop primarily at Holmes or Maison Blanche. New Orleans had a good transportation system. The bus or streetcar cost seven cents to ride and you could get free transfers to change from streetcar to bus or change buses at intersections to continue your journey.

The newspapers that were published in New Orleans were sent to Covington via the bus. The paper cost a nickel. Boys would distribute the afternoon paper to the subscribed customers while riding on their bikes (rain or shine). They often had trouble collecting the monthly subscription fee from their customers. The Baton Rouge newspaper was seldom available.

Doctors Made House Calls

Home delivery was not uncommon. The milk man brought fresh milk and/or cream to your back door. The daily morning newspaper would be thrown to your front steps. Laundry could be picked up at your back door and taken to St. Joseph’s Abbey where the nuns would wash and iron it and return it in a few days. Even soft drinks and watermelon would be sold door to door. Occasionally, men would be standing on the side of the road selling strawberries or soft-shell crabs. If you were very sick, the doctors made house calls.

There were several automobiles in Covington that no longer exist today. Packard was a luxury car to compete with Cadillac and Lincoln. Studebaker had a car that looked very similar from its front or back. Then there was the Kaiser and the Henry-J. The Edsel made a brief appearance. The price of a Cadillac back the was about five thousand dollars.

Gasoline costs about twenty cents a gallon, sometimes as low as 18-cents or as high as 24-cents. Cigarettes were about 25 to 30-cents a pack. If the price in a vending machine was 27 or 28-cents, the package would have two or three pennies included in the cellophane wrapper as change for your quarter and nickel. Coke and other soft drinks cost only a nickel. Coke later introduced a 10-ounce bottle in addition to their six-ounce size and it cost six-cents.

Passenger trains had not run in Covington for several years, but a daily train still came through. It traveled from Bogalusa through Abita Springs, then through Covington in route to collect logs for the paper mill. It returned in the afternoon fully loaded. Occasionally a freight car would be dropped off on a spur south of Lockwood street. When the train was abolished, the track and land was sold, and it became Tammany Trace.

There were three primary high schools, CHS, St. Paul’s and St. Scholastica’s. It was in the 1950s that St. Paul’s built their “new” basketball gym. Non-students of St. Paul’s would sneak into the school grounds because they had a swimming pool and a couple of pool tables. CHS, located on Jefferson Avenue had several “out buildings.” Agriculture classes were held in a building near the football field. The band hall was a separate building across from the gym. Boys kept their bicycles in the band hall yard (and did not have to lock their bikes). St. Paul’s and CHS had a natural cross-town rivalry in football and basketball. Covington High has since been burned down; fire origin unknown.

The CHS band uniforms provided by the school consisted of a jacket and a hat. Band members had to supply their own white pants and sew a blue strip down each side plus provide their own blue tie. The band performed at half-time of the high school football games, had an annual concert and marched in several New Orleans Mardi Gras parades.

The gym served several purposes. Besides being home court for the school basketball team, Covington hosted an invitation tournament of sixteen local area high school basketball teams each February. The home team won this tourney several years in a row in the 1950s. It was the venue of the high school dances following home football games. After the CHS-St. Paul’s game was the Sadie Hawkins dance. The name taken from Dogpatch and Lil’ Abner whereby the girls asked the boys for a date. It was also used for school assemblies, a site for talent and magic shows, the annual senior class play, and it even served as the location for the performance of the New Orleans symphony.

Across from the high school was the softball field (now the location of the gym). It was a lighted field with bleachers, and in the evenings, softball was played, with the two dominate teams, Shell Oil and WASS (Western Auto Supply Store). In later years, this area was designated for high school boys to smoke, if they had written parental permission.


Driving to Madisonville

To drive to Madisonville, you would go down 19th avenue to Tyler street then to 16th avenue to Filmore (Tyler street was not open between 21st avenue and 19th avenue). At the end of Filmore was a “rickety” old bridge across the Tchefuncte River. The bridge at the south east end of Tyler street was not built until the mid-50s. 

To go to Hammond, one would go northwest on 21st avenue to the end and then turn west toward Goodbee. There was no easy way. Traveling from Texas to Florida, the truckers used U.S. Highway 190. That main route came right through Covington down Boston street. It made the double 90-degree turn at Jefferson avenue before going down 21st avenue toward Hammond.

In the Spring of 1957, Covington undertook to renumber every house and building in a more organized way. The intersection of Jefferson avenue and 21st avenue was ground zero. From there, buildings were numbered on the streets every 50 feet. If there was no house or building in a certain span, a gap occurred in the numbers so that there was room for a future building to be numbered. 

The street names were changed or modified to reflect north, south, east and west of ground zero. The numbers were assigned using a simple system first originated by Napoleon in France with odd numbers on the left and even numbers on the right as you left ground zero. For instance, a house that was originally 1104 21st avenue, became 406 West 21st avenue.

Parish Courthouse

The parish courthouse was on Boston street. It was torn down in the late 1950s to make room for a new, more modern facility. The gymnasium of the grammar school was the temporary courthouse. It was during this construction period that Governor Earl Long was transported from the mental hospital near Mandeville to the Covington Grammar school gym for a sanity hearing. Rumor was that he told the state trooper that drove the car, that as soon as he let him out at the school, to find another job because he was fired!

100 Years Ago This November 1

What was going on 100 years ago this week? CLICK HERE for a link to the St. Tammany Farmer of November 1, 1919. The link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service.

Click on the sample images below to see larger versions.

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