Dear Friends:

The following article was found among the papers saved by my parents, Myrtis Lee Heard Jackson and Wilmer H. Jackson, Sr. From 1948-1965 they were part of LHS, with Mr. Jackson serving as Principal and Mrs. Jackson teaching sixth grade. I am sure this article is from the Interstate Progress, which was published in Logansport from 1800-1956. Part of the date is obscure, but the year, printed clearly, is 1935. This seems accurate since the time-period covered by the article ends in 1933. Where it is impossible to read the print, I have offered possible alternatives for illegible words – for example lodge or college, where only “ge” was readable. I have supplied punctuation and paragraphs where these were not clear, but have made every effort to remain true to the text. I hope that Mr. Glenn Price, and other Logansport historians and long time residents will respond and help fill out this outline of our school’s history.

Sincerely,

Frances Ruth Jackson Freeman

STORY OF LOGANSPORT HIGH SCHOOL

Many noble accomplishments have had a worthwhile beginning. From the “Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana” (1890) we know that Logansport was founded in 1830, some thirteen years before DeSoto Parish was created. For years it was a celebrated trading post and grew to a thriving little town. The status of school opportunities for the children in those days is a mere conjecture since no mention of school is made in the above quoted memoirs, nor are any early records available. Some of the wealthier planters might have employed tutors for their children in their own homes as was long the custom in the South. It stands to reason that some form of school must have existed in a community whose social and religious life prompted the founding of a Lodge (or college) as early as 1848 and a church near-by in 1851.

But the establishment of new towns in Louisiana and Texas, the removal of the Red River Raft, and the establishment of Shreveport drained much of Logansport’s old-time authority and left it poor indeed, as economic loss was intensified by social and economic disasters in the Civil War to the extent that the population disappeared and it was a so-called “town of ashes.” This is affirmed by one of the oldest inhabitants. Shortly after the war, Mr. A.M. Garrett established a business house, operating it for many years, and his home in town.

Mrs. Garrett, whose home is the oldest here, through whose courtesy and cooperation most of the details of the earlier history of the school has been supplied, says that for several years following 1877 only three or four families, the Odom, Bevier, and Norris were here. There were very few children, but in time the necessity for some form of school was felt. The earliest schools were taught by some mother in her own home. Mrs. White, the mother of Mrs. Fletcher Adams, was the first teacher. Many and interesting are incidents related about the earliest schools.

On the completing of the Shreveport and Houston Railroad in 1885, new traders and settlers located here. As a result of the increased population, the school proposition became a man sized problem; hence the passing of the women teachers until more than one teacher was needed. Sometimes a few neighbors would get together and hire a teacher, who would organize a school. Teaching was often incidental to the regular work of the teacher. As an example, C. C. Chatman, postmaster and editor of the “News,” taught school. Mr. Elijah Price, whose children are now numbered among the business leaders of the town and whose grandchildren and great-grandchildren are in Logansport High School at present, was one of the pioneer teachers.

The school was financed by private subscription. There was no certainty as to the length of term, usually three months, nor qualification of teachers. Most any man who came along and announced he was a teacher could get a subscription school and hold it until the boys decided to “run him out.”

The lower room of the Masonic building, located on the ground now occupied by the Standard Oil Co [1]., was used as a church and schoolhouse for a number of years. In time a two-story school building was erected on Lot No. 42 near the Moen, Caraway, and Bell homes. The earliest local officials of the school were the mayor and town council. It might be interesting to know that the earliest school officials once employed a mill-hand as a teacher. Occasionally a year would pass without a school term. Such were the beginnings of school at Logansport. Crude and inefficient as they were, these schools held the germ of strong and enduring principles of education.

Time marches on. In 1898, the Constitutional Convention wrote a clause into the State Constitution permitting the local districts to vote special taxes. No parish tax was in DeSoto until after 1900. Shortly following this measure a city tax of 2 mills was voted by Logansport for the general running expenses of the school. Salaries were paid by parish tax and local tuitions. About this time the first school board was elected as follows: P.G.R. Bell, president, Dr. S. J. Smart, W.J. Paulk, N. J. Caraway, and W.R. Lamb. A number of these men served in this capacity for several years.

Rev. D.A. Leak, A.M., of Texas, was employed as principal by this board. Several years of loyalty to the cause and faithful service to the community by this veteran teacher put the Logansport school on a sure foundation and marked the beginning of high school work. In time the equivalent to a two years high school course was offered, leading to graduation and a diploma signed by principal and local school board. Mr. Leak crowned his efforts with his first graduation class in 1902-03, although the “fire drake [2]” had visited the hearth and left the school without a home before the close of that term. The first class roll of thirteen listed Cheasley Price, valedictorian: Lizzie Rogers, salutatorian; Esther Arley, Lura Leak, Ruth Midyett, Florence Nichols, George Ella Burgess, Walter Sims, Mattie Moats, Nannie Hardy, Johnnie Hardy, and Smith Price.

Again the school was obliged to hold forth in borrowed quarters, a two-story building on the present site of the post office [3]. About two school terms were spent there. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the school in that disturbed and somewhat disorganized period was the graduation of a lad who has become a most distinguished man in the school circles of the state. Logansport High School gave to DeSoto Parish and to the state of Louisiana G.O. Houston [4], of whom it is justly proud.

1905-06, Mr. William Goss of Mansfield, then parish superintendent, donated block 78 north of the highway and directly in front of the present plant to the school board.[5] On this block a two story building 70x60, four rooms below with a large assembly above was constructed and well equipped. In fact it was considered the best equipped school in the parish for some time. The courses included history, mathematics, English, Latin, and Greek. Mr. Leak upon returning to his second principalship was the first principal in the new building. The boys suggested as a bit of comedy that we might state that the first rubber heels in Logansport were worn by Mr. Leak, hence his unsuspected “arrival” in the midst of their pranks.

The rapid growth of Louisiana’s high school system began in 1908 when Superintendent James B. Aswell of the State System directed organization of state high schools under the direction of state supervision. Mr. McReynolds, principal of Logansport schools at that time, added the required science to the course of study, thus placing Logansport among the first 67 high schools. The class of 1908-09 had four graduates, Ida Belle Pugh, Edwin Caraway, William Whatley Garrett, and Nannie Scurlock, who received the first diplomas to be issued by the Louisiana State Department of Education.

Under the principalship of Mr. C.C. Payne the Home Economics courses were added, and a cottage for the same was built, now the home of Mrs. Sallie Crawford. Miss Barnwell was the first Home Ec teacher. A small wood shop was built and some mechanical work was provided and principles of carpentry were taught.

In 1922, P. E. Odom became principal and did much to put the school on par with the best in this section of the state. To the carpentry and domestic science courses he added a two years commercial course and later an agricultural course. Both Home Economics and Agricultural courses operated under the Smith-Hughes plan.[6] In 1922-23 the school moved to its present quarters, one of the handsomest school plants in the state,[7] to which recently an annex [8] has been built. There is also a modern, well equipped Home Ec cottage on the grounds. Mr. Odem gave attention to athletics, developing one of the best football teams of any high school in DeSoto Parish. For many years the school has employed sixteen teachers, ten in the grades and six in the high.

Mr. A.G. Lee came to Logansport in 1922-23 and is serving in the double capacity of agriculture teacher and principle of the school. Mr. Lee is an energetic young man with a broad vision, who is doing a wonderful work with the farmer in the field as with the boys in school. We predict for him a successful career in his chosen field of work.

[1] Does anyone know where the Standard Oil Co. was located in 1935?

[2] The fire drake is a fire-breathing dragon. In 1935, it was a literary device for referring to a fire, which in this case burned down the Logansport school. In 2008, Fire Drake is a popular digital game.

[3] Does any reader know where the Logansport Post Office was located in 1935? In the 1950’s, it was located on first street, just down from Caraway’s Hardware Store, near the railroad tracks.

[4] I have searched my references for G. O. Houston without success. Does any reader know who he was and what he accomplished?

[5] Does anyone know the site of these school buildings? If anyone knows where Miss Sallie Crawford lived in the 1930’s, this would be a good clue.

[6] The Smith-Hughes plan was enacted in 1917 as federal legislation to support and encourage the establishment of vocational courses of study with emphasis on agriculture and home economics. Under Smith-Hughes Agriculture teachers were to teach students AND provide guidance and assistance to farmers. Similarly Home Ec. teachers were to teach girls and help homemakers. For the extra work, they were paid for twelve months rather than nine.

[7] It is interesting that the writer does not mention that the school was built by the WPA with federal funding. I suspect that anti-Roosevelt political leanings prevented him for giving credit for the school buildings he praises.

[8] These were the two main buildings in the old Logansport High School complex, and were connected by a covered walkway and overhead arcade. The primary classroom building with the lunch room was added in the early 1950’s; and the gymnasium (which still stands on the old school grounds) was added in the 1960s’s.