This map shows lots in Mandeville in 1928 as they were being sold by real estate brokers at the time. Click on the images to make them larger.
A close up of the lakefront
See also:
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Garic "Nikki" Barranger
Garic Kenneth “Nikki” Barranger was a well-known and respected Covington attorney, active in a variety of theatrical and literary pursuits. He was the son of Miriam Barranger, one of the founders of and first president of the St. Tammany Art Association.
Garic "Nikki" Barranger
His community involvements included Playmakers amateur theater group, the Head Start childrens' agency, and literary legends Walker Percy and John Kennedy Toole.
Barranger died at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington on April 15, 2015, at the age of 80 years. Born in December of 1934, he was the son of Dalton Joseph and Miriam Garic Barranger. His obituary notes that he was a native of Covington, he attended Covington Elementary School, St. Paul's College, Yale University and Tulane University Law School.
His interest in the theater prompted him to become a member of Dramat, Yale University's student dramatic organization. According to his obituary, after receiving his law degree, he practiced in Covington and became a senior partner in the law firm of Barranger, Barranger, Jones, and Fussell.
Ox Lot Lawsuit
In one of his more famous legal efforts, he represented the City of Covington in the 1972 case of Ross v. City of Covington, the lawsuit which asserted that the city’s ox lots were public domain and private buildings were encroachments. That lawsuit helped secure National Register of Historic Places status for the city’s Division of St. John. His obituary stated that he later established a solo law practice, where he helped underdogs and always sought that which was "right and just."
Novelist Dr. Walker Percy and Barranger were good friends, working together on several projects, one being the posthumous publication of "The Confederacy of Dunces" by New Orleans author J.K. Toole, as well as helping Headstart services get going in the Covington area.
A Confederacy of Dunces
Barranger was involved in helping the mother of John Kennedy Toole, Thelma Toole, get her son's novel "A Confederacy of Dunces" published. J. K. Toole died in 1969, and his mother strived continuously to have his novel read, edited and published. It captured the attention of Walker Percy of Covington, who in turn, gave a copy of it to Barranger to read, and shortly afterwards the issues arose about the publishing rights.
Barranger worked for a time with Mrs. Toole, navigating the legal ramifications of trying to get the legal rights to the novel settled and the publishing contract squared away. It was a difficult endeavor, and prompted several pages in Toole's biography "Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole" where Barranger's name was repeatedly mentioned.
The portions of J.K. Toole's biography where Barranger was mentioned.
In 1979, Barranger wrote several letters to Thelma Toole, in one of which he said he thought John Kennedy Toole had been a victim of bad editing and that, consequently, some parts of the book might be lost. The book was preserved, published, and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. One of Barranger's letters is now part of the J.K.Toole Archives in the Howard Tilton Memorial Library and the Tulane University Digital Library.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Barranger was also involved in the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where his legal skills "proved invaluable during his tenure on the board of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation." He served as president from 1993 to 1995 (see plaque below) and was President Emeritus at the time of his death. "He was a Jazz Fest regular and was usually found in the Economy Hall tent," it was noted.
Plaques for his service to the Jazz Festival
He was also a founding board member and legal advisor to Hospice of St. Tammany, the first hospice established in the parish.
Playmakers
"Over the years, Nikki employed his dramatic talent in stage productions at Tulane's Summer, and Summer Lyric, Theatres; the Gallery Circle Theatre; and Playmakers Theatre in Covington, which he helped organize. His stage appearances were a delight to his audiences," his obituary information went on to say.
"When the Playmakers theatre burned, he worked diligently to preserve the organization and raise the funds necessary to rebuild. In recognition of his many years of involvement and support, he was named an honorary life patron," according to his obituary. He was also active, for a number of years, in editing an abridged version of a Shakespeare play read at the New Orleans Shakespeare Society’s annual gathering.
A block frame for Playmakers ads on a letterpress, found in Barranger's office
"He loved opera, possessed in-depth knowledge of all things musical – instruments, composers, and singers – from many eras. He collaborated with folk singer Rose Anne Bivens in many performances and on two CDs."
Garic Barranger seated, listening to Roseanne Bivens on guitar
He portrayed the Wazir character in a Tulane University Summer Lyric Theater production of "Kismet"
Art Collection
His obituary continued: "He had an extensive contemporary art collection and was a prolific author. He wrote poems, plays, short stories, and two books, one, “Continuities”, about his father, and another, “Southern Karma”, about his mother. That huge volume, hard-bound and ornately decorated, contained many photographs.
Head Start and Regina Coeli
He helped further minority rights by helping Head Start, and in the establishment of a credit union for African-Americans.
In a history of the Regina Coeli Child Development Center, Barranger is credited with many contributions. In 1968, he helped write a grant application for $45,000 to enable Head Start to operate an eight-week program in the summer of 1969.
CLICK HERE for a complete history of Regina Coeli.
In the organization's official history, Helen Frick noted that the Covington law firm of Barranger, Barranger, and Jones drafted the original corporate charter as an in-kind service for the group. On August 14, 1969, the Secretary of State affirmed that Regina Coeli Child Development Center was officially incorporated as a private, non-profit corporation. The first board members of the corporation included Dr. Walker Percy, Garic K. Barranger, Dr. Suzanne Hill, and Helen Frick.
The Regina Coeli history concluded that "Few Head Start programs in the country can boast of having a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist (Dr. Walker Percy), a Yale educated attorney (Garic Barranger), a university developmental psychology professor (Dr. Suzanne Hill), a Tulane Delta Primate Research psychologist (Dr. Charles Hill), a Baptist minister (Rev. Lawrence Tyson), and an Episcopal minister (Rev. Nolan Pipes) on their original board of directors."
Garic "Nikki" Barranger
See also:
Mrs. Miriam Barranger, Artist
Rose Anne Bivens - Folk Singer
Writing St. Tammany Parish History - C.H. Nichols
Monday, January 17, 2022
Business Boom in Slidell -1927
In 1927 the bridge over the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain from Chef Menteur to Slidell was nearing completion. So the push was on to sell land in Slidell.
Numerous newspaper ads appeared in the New Orleans Times Picayune commending the new city for its business potential, as well as its beauty and promise of tourism. Ninty-five years ago, this advertisement on June 30, 1927, talked about Main Street extension for business location properties:
Click on the images to make them larger and more readable.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Likeness Guaranteed
In 1893 artist A. L. Williams moved from New York to Covington to set up his portrait studio, mainly taking small portrait photos and enlarging them into hand-drawn paintings, Here's an advertisement advertising his services.
He became active in the community, providing artistic and even musical performances. He was identified as "Professor A.L. Williams." Click on the images to make them larger and more readable.
In 1919, he and his family moved to Bogalusa.
Saturday, January 15, 2022
The 1904 Map of Downtown Covington - Part 3
Recently we looked at a 1904 map showing the area of downtown Covington below Gibson Street between New Hampshire St. and Florida Street.
Today we move northward and look at the same map showing what is above Gibson street. A lot was going on in 1904 north of Gibson street, and here it is.
Click on the images to make them larger.
A section of the 1904 map of downtown Covington
In the above image, we see Gibson street at the very bottom, with New Hampshire crossing it on the left. Running down Gibson Street were the train tracks that brought people into Covington over the Bogue Falaya river.
In front of what is now Hebert's Cleaners, the tracks split into two, with one track curving northward and the remaining track continuing westward. The track heading northward served the freight/cargo loading platform, seen below.
That remaining track on Gibson St. immediately split into two tracks again, this time with the upper track serving the passenger loading platform at the train depot on the northeast corner of the Gibson/New Hampshire Street intersection.
To the west of the intersection, where the Maritime Pilots Institute is today, there was a large warehouse with a train unloading platform of its own.
Heading eastward on Gibson, towards the right, we come across the Commercial Hotel, which later became the Patrick Hotel, which later became Hebert's Cleaners. The building pictured below was, unfortunately, destroyed by the 1997 tornado. It has been replaced by a one story brick structure.
The small building to the left of Commercial Hotel was a saloon in 1904 and is now Brooks Bike Shop.
Brooks Bike Shop, a Tammany Trace landmark
On the other side of the Commercial Hotel was the large W.R. Badon Livery, an L shaped building that fronted both on Columbia Street and Gibson Street. So the present day Rock N Blues Cafe was at one time a livery stable.
Continuing along Gibson towards Columbia Street, we pass a small building, then cross Columbia and find another Saloon, located where today there is the Dependable Glass parking lot.
We turn north on Columbia and find adjacent to the saloon a barber shop. We go past the alleyway and find on the west side of Columbia St. a Chinese laundry, then a "lodge" room, and finally, at the corner of Lockwood,a general store. Everything else east of the intersection is residential dwellings, except a grocery store at the intersection of Lockwood and Florida Streets.
If we head west, to the left, we come across Uncle "Bobs" Livery stables. Then we get to the intersection of Lockwood and New Hampshire, where we come across a huge general store, with a warehouse adjacent, and its own train track spur and cargo loading platform. This was the future site of Burns Furniture Store.
Burns Furniture Store, corner Lockwood and New Hampshire
now a vacant lot (but also the site of a proposed beer garden)
Across the intersection we see another small warehouse next to the tracks, and coming down New Hampshire, we see the tracks split again, with one heading for where Marsolan's Feed & Seed will be located in 36 years. Those rails are still visible at the Covington Trailhead park.
The rails from long ago
A note on the map at that location says that the railroad is planning to build a 30 foot tall water tower at that location. A small scale replica of that water tower can be seen at the Covington trailhead as well.
The splitting of the tracks in this manner, forming a triangle with the base on Gibson and peak near Kirkland street, allowed the train to "turn around" and head back out Covington on the same track it entered on. The train would take the first split northward and go until its last car cleared the top split, then it would back down the trailhead's western track and ease backward onto Gibson again, this time pointing in the opposite direction.
The Train Track Triangle Turn Around (1909 Map View)
Now back to the 1904 map, starting at the Covington Trailhead, we continue down New Hampshire Street where we come to another warehouse, another general store, and just south of that a "carriage house" where the future Deluxe Theater will be built. This is in the vicinity of where Lee Finance and Holistic Life Approach are located.
Lee Finance and Holistic Life Approach (Google Street View)
The Deluxe Theater building at the left
The Deluxe Theater building at the left
The next map section shows the blocks north of Lockwood Street
In this section of the map, we start at the lower left corner, where the current Covington train depot is located, but at the time of the map that structure was still 16 years in the future.
In the extreme lower left corner of this map section, we see a large building labelled "warehouse." That would be the future Alexius Brothers Hardware Store location, now the Once in a While Gift Shop.
The Once in a While Gift Shop
There was another warehouse structure on the east side of the tracks a little further up, and across New Hampshire Street, where the Woodwright Shop is now, was a general store.
The Woodwright Shop where once a general store stood
Further up New Hampshire St., where Lola Restaurant is currently located, there was a "coal pocket" alongside the tracks. Now on those tracks is a caboose that serves as a kitchen, and a couple of passenger train cars which have been converted into dining rooms for Lola.
The train tracks continued to head upward towards the area where the Justice Center is today.
Most of this section of the map is populated by residential dwellings, but there are a few commercial establishments. A large general store is located in the northwest corner of the Columbia St./Lockwood St. intersection, and another general store is located on the northeast corner of the same intersection.
That corner, now occupied by Armbruster Art School (and the Lions Den Salon for Men), was at one time a funeral home and later the Suella Shop and later Roberts Beauty School.
The unique building on the northeast corner of Columbia and Lockwood
Meanwhile, up in the extreme upper right corner of the map, there is a blacksmith shop on the southeast corner of the Kirkland St./Florida St. intersection, which is now a parking lot diagonally across from the cemetery.
That ends our tour of the main map section. As always, Sanborn maps had inset maps featuring building complexes that were outside the main area of the map. Below you will find the inset map that shows the area that follows up on the train tracks as they cross over Kirkland and go up alongside the St. Tammany Ice & Manufacturing Plant and further up to the Covington Wholesale Grain Co.
Those two major industries above occupied the space in 1904 where the St. Tammany Justice Center would be built a hundred years later. However, in the intervening years Mackie Pine Oil Products and P&W Industries were located in that triangle of land.
The St. Tammany Justice Center
See also:
A Walk Around Covington in 1904 - Part 1
A Walk Around Covington in 1904 - Part 2
Covington Sanborn Map 1927 - Part 3Sanborn maps were made every several years
to inform insurance companies on the various building construction
materials, fire hazards, and water supply capabilities of towns across
America.
NOTE:
The buildings on these maps were color coded to indicate type of
construction and materials, so most of them are yellow, wood frame, some
of them are red, brick, and a few of them are blue, made of stone.
Friday, January 14, 2022
100 Years Ago January 14, 2022
What was going on 100 years ago this week? CLICK HERE for a link to the St. Tammany Farmer Issue of January 14, 1922. The link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service.
Click on the sample images below to see larger versions.
Society News
Slidell News
The Battle of the Bottling Plants
Mandeville Notes
When Glasses were cheaper than shoes
What to do when you can't decide on a name for your store
Madisonville News
Folsom News
Abita Springs Wedding
Tribute to Bill Krebs
Edison Broadway Musical Hits
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