A continuous work-in-progress - check later for updates
1840
U. S. Army engineers survey the Louisiana/Texas line, building rafts to cross Ferry (Caddo) Lake and then wading chest deep water while hacking through the swamp in Jim's (now Jeems) Bayou.
Steamboats, such as the doomed Mittie Stephens, traversed the waterways from the 1840s until early 1900s Once a dam sans a lock was built at the foot of Caddo Lake, river traffic was permanently halted.
1848
Many years before "Ripley's Believe It Or Not," co-founder Tim Mooring made the news for a reported eight pound sweet potato. That represents a lot of pies.
New Orleans Crescent 06-Dec-1848, Page 3
1852
An occurrence of then-named Mooring's Landing being listed among scheduled destinations of the steamboat Caspian, departing from New Orleans. The book A History of Navigation on Cypress Bayou and the Lakes by Jacques D. Bagur, cites an earlier advertisement appearing in a Texas newspaper for the Cleona in January 1852. Given that steamers were making trips further west to Jefferson, Texas in the 1840s, even earlier stops are likely to have taken place.
1855
The steamer Alida, sunk near Mooring's Landing, was initially reported a total loss. It was however later raised and repaired; and eventually returned to service..
New Orleans Times-Picayune 31-Jan-1855, Page 2
Town-related items appearing in proceedings of the Caddo Parish Police Jury.
The (Shreveport) South-western 13-Jun-1855, Page 1
A post office is established, and presumably continuous in operation ever since.
The (Shreveport) South-western 13-Jun-1855, Page 2
1857
A showboat, the Banjo, entertained audiences in Mooringsport and other local points on the waterway north of Shreveport.
The (Shreveport) South-western 11-Mar-1857, Page 2
1866
Excerpts from a handwritten letter, dated 16-Sep-1866, by Dr. Edwin L. Tillinghast to his sister Cornelia, living back in South Carolina. The original is on file in the Emory University Confederate archives.
"After leaving N. O. on the Steamer “Cuba” (I) arrived at Shreveport 8 days thereafter. Where I practiced medicine two weeks, noticing in a city paper an advertisement for an M.D. at this point concluded to try this job a letter of introduction to this citizen Dr. Bickham, a graduate of Med(ical) University at N. O. (now Tulane University). Came up and was very hospitably received and “set to vending pills”, established a considerable reputation as a “good physician” so that in four months time, got a practice (making) more than $430.00/per month.
This place “Mooringsport” was first settled by a Mooring hence its name. Everyone in 6 or 8 miles around (it is a thickly settled neighborhood) and uncles, brother, cousin or something else. (a family connection) so I am all alone by myself. The people are hospitable, kind, and good living. They are among the fortunate individuals who were never at any time visited by troops of either army, consequently everything is as it was before the war.
I have a scope of country 8-10 miles either side or 16-20 square to practice in rate of exchange of $1 per mile. Some days have ridden 40 or 50 miles. Have a fine bay horse, fine army saddle worth $50 in G. B. (JAR: I presume gold bullion), and silver mounted bridle. I am boarding with a Mr. Christian and lady. They have no children with them so with a little niece and myself there is four in the family."
In a very brief October 23, 1866 letter, he makes reference to young lady, Miss Patty L. Fly, a granddaughter of Mooringsport co-founder John Mooring, who he later married.
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| Dr. Edwin L. Tillinghast |
Source: Mooringsport Mini Museum
The referenced Cuba was a steamboat that made regular trips between New Orleans and Jefferson, Texas at that time.
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| The Cuba docked at New Orleans |
1868
A description of bayou/lake/river traffic from Jefferson to New Orleans as observed by the clerk of the steamboat Lulu D. Note commerce was vibrant in the area, not just an occasional vessel visiting, with six docked or in transit upstream (including the Cuba pictured above) of Mooringsport, and two others mentioned in port at Shreveport bound for Jefferson..
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Source: New Orleans Picayune 09-Mar-1868, Page 2
1870
A report of the steamer Era No. 9 arriving in Shreveport, having taken 88 bales of cotton as cargo at Mooringsport.
The (Shreveport) South-western 23-Feb-1870, Page 3
1873
Among legislation passed by the U. S. Congress is authorization to construct a road from Shreveport to Mooringsport.
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1874
The U. S. Post Office is accepting bids for for someone to carry mail between Waskom, Texas and Mooringsport. It's interesting that the mail was carried overland from Texas rather than by land or water from Shreveport. This was 20+ years before a railroad was constructed through the area.
1876
A proposed bill in the Louisiana legislature to create the Parish of Taylor from the northern portion of Caddo Parish, with Mooringsport as its seat, was tabled. Read more in The Parish That Never Was.
In the 1800s, steamboats plied the waterways of northwest Louisiana, carrying passengers and goods from New Orleans and ports beyond up the Mississippi and then Red River to Shreveport, the area's hub of commerce. From there, they would travel farther up through Twelve-Mile Bayou, Soda Lake, and Ferry (now Caddo) Lake; making stops at Mooringsport and other points, on the way to Jefferson, Texas - once a significant port in that state. An example, shown below, was the Col. A. P. Kouns, a steamer that made the trek in the mid-1870s.
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| Col. A. P. Kouns at Jefferson, Texas (1875) |
Below is an arrival notice in a New Orleans newspaper noting the Kouns having brought 987 bales of cotton from Mooringsport.
1884
Officers and members of the local Masonic Lodge, circa 1884.
1887
A meeting and barbecue are held in Mooringsport, attended by a representative of the Kansas City, Watkins and Lake Charles Railway and local concerned parties. The subject of discussion is a railway to be built from Kansas City, MO to Lake Charles, LA that would pass through Shreveport and obviously be of interest to Mooringsport residents.
1889
Mrs. Alice Pocohantas Jeter Elgin (later Caldwell) was appointed teacher at Mooringsport in the fall of 1889.
From the Mt. Zion Cemetery History:
"Alice Pocahontas Jeter Elgin Caldwell (1853-1904) was born at Jeter’s Landing on Caddo Lake. Her father was William Nathaniel Jeter, born in Carolina County. Virginia, July 7, 1821. He died at Jeter's Landing March 6, 1898. Her mother was Lucinda L. Ford, Born Oct. 11, 1825. (Alice) married twice. Her two husbands, C. C. (Clifton Caswell) Elgin (1843-1881) and Samuel Anthony Caldwell (1852-1892) are buried in this lot."
Of note, her son Samuel Shepherd Caldwell (1892-1953), born in Mooringsport, served as mayor of Shreveport from 1934 to 1946. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for Louisiana governor, losing to Jimmie Davis in 1944.
Announcement of a station to be established at Mooringsport for the upcoming Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad (later Kansas City Southern, or simply KCS) railroad running from Kansas City to Shreveport. The town is noted as a shipping point for cattle.
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Source: St. Louis Republic 21-Aug-1895, Page 3
Local leaders negotiate with K.C.P. & G. Railroad (now KCS Railways) to bring the new railroad through town. The $5,000 paid would be the equivalent of approximately $150,000 today. Though presented in chronological order of publication, this news would have preceded the announcement of construction of a local depot.
Example of stationary from Calvin S. Croom store.
Captain Calvin S. Croom dies.
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Kansas City Southern Railway completes a track through the area. To commemorate the "marriage" of Shreveport and Texarkana by rail, a celebration is held in Mooringsport, attended by citizens of the three communities.
1897
Cyclone strikes Mooringsport; four killed and twenty wounded
A Louisiana Village Almost Swept Away.
Four Are Killed and Twenty Injured During the Period of One Minute of Time.
Shreveport, La., January 2. – A cyclone from the southwest struck and almost literally demolished the town of Mooringsport, just north of this city, at 3:45 p.m. today. Over twenty dwellings were blown down, only seven buildings being left intact. Four persons were killed and twenty wounded.
The dead are:
The dead are:
- Willie Goodman.
- Maud Goodman.
- Hill Goodman.
- Infant daughter of Mr. Jesse Goodman.
The wounded:
- Mrs. Jesse Goodman, Alice Goodman, Para Lee Goodman, wife and two daughters of Jesse Goodman.
- Clyde Goodman, his nephew.
- Mrs. Effie Morgan and infant baby.
- Mrs. Head, mother of Mrs. Morgan, 68 years of age, badly injured in back and foot.
- All the children killed were Mrs. Head’s grandchildren.
- Mr. Aiken, hurt in head.
- Thomas Elgin, arm broken.
- Thomas Elliott, injured in head.
- Dr. J. B. Harris, head cut and left side injured.
- Tom Yeat, head cut.
- Mrs. Tom Yeat, internally injured.
- Miss Yeat, aged 14, slightly injured.
- Alvin Yeat, aged 7, slightly injured.
- Mrs. Davis, slightly injured.
- Jordan Robinson, colored, arm badly fractured.
Three of the wounded will probably die.
The cyclone came suddenly and lasted about one minute.
The following houses were destroyed:
W. H. B. Croom’s grocery and cottonseed house, Ivy’s grocery, Fain’s saloon, Fuller’s residence, Christian’s store, warehouse, residence and tenant house, Morgan’s residence, Milan’s residence, Frank Ivy’s residence, Goodman’s residence, F. A. Yeat’s residence, Methodist parsonage, C. S. Croom’s vacant house, O. V. Aiken’s residence, Croom’s stable and smoke house.
The only houses left uninjured are:
Mrs. C. S. Croom’s residence, J. S. Noel’s store and residence, Methodist church, Mrs. Caldwell’s residence, W. H. B. Croom’s main store and residence, and the depot.
Physicians and a relief committee left at 6:30 on a special train and every possible attention is being given the wounded. Captain Matt Scovel, P. J. Trezevent, Henry Enders, N. W. Burff, S. N. Keeley, Thomas Enders, Mr. Seaman and others came on the relief train, and are rendering all assistance in their power. It has been decided to take the wounded to the hospital at daylight in the morning. They cannot be moved tonight, owing to the difficulty in getting them on the train.
Dr. Tillinghast, the local physician, was found here doing all in his power for the injured.
1910
Mooringsport becomes incorporated.
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The Jefferson (TX) Jimplecute 14-Oct-1910 Page 2
1912
Act of the U.S. Congress authorizing construction of a bridge across Caddo Lake (the old drawbridge) dated 27-Jan-1912.
Report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army,Part III, 1912
1913
Oil well fire a mile west of Mooringsport, having a resultant loss of 20,000 barrels per day. The article mentions the then current mayor as Louis Crisp.
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Contract let to build bridge across Caddo Lake at Mooringsport.
Source: 913-10-11 Dallas Morning News 11-Oct-1913 Page 17
1914
Local bank is formed.
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Source: Fuel Oil Journal Jan-1914, Page 46
An interesting profile of a Mooringsport resident and businessman of 100 years ago - C. B. "Charlie" Alexander.
Mooringsport is granted a new Boy Scout council, just four years after the organization's founding.
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Scouting (magazine), Volume 2, No. 11, 01-Oct-1914, Page 2
1915
In August 1915, Mooringsport was one of several area sites holding a rally in support of voting rights for women.
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1915, Page 1
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1915
In August 1915, Mooringsport was one of several area sites holding a rally in support of voting rights for women.
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1915, Page 1
1916
The Mooringsport Masonic lodge elected to build an $8,000 temple on its site on the bluff overlooking Caddo Lake. That cost would be $187,000 in Aug-2017 dollars.
In late 1917 the Caddo oil fields were in turmoil, as a strike loomed that would involve workers in the southwest from Louisiana all the way to California. At issue were pay and working conditions. This, against the backdrop of WWI and the country's need for secure oil supplies, would lead to occupation of the area by federal troops from other parts of the country, even as local men were leaving to fight in Europe. For more information, see Military Occupation Of The Caddo Oil Fields 1917-1918.
Instead of being viewed as an invading force, the soldiers were generally warmly welcomed into the communities in which they camped. Officers, several who came with their wives, were also received into local society. Likely folks identified these boys, away from home, with their own somewhere far off. Mooringsport townspeople and schoolchildren showed hospitality to nearby encamped U. S. Army troops by serving them Thanksgiving dinner and fruit treats.
Shreveport Times 02-Dec-1917, Page 26
1918
Oklahoma outlaw Frank Scribner, AKA Tom Starr is killed near Mooringsport. Note among those involved in the gun battle with Scribner/Starr was Lt. W. H. Callon of the occupying 43rd Infantry.
J. Thomas "Tom" Tanner, Jr. elected mayor.
Source: 1918-04-18 New Orleans States 18-Apr-1918 Page 7
In addition to serving as mayor of Mooringsport, he was a practicing lawyer, manager of the Mooringsport Bank, and later served in the Shreveport city government and represented Caddo Parish in the state legislature. The clip below refers to him as first mayor, though that may actually be first elected mayor as H. F. Ivey (see under 1940) was appointed mayor in 1910.
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Source: Who's Who in the South and Southwest, Volume 6 (1959), Page 803
A fire burns eight buildings in the Mooringsport business district.
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1918-12-18 New Orleans Times-Picayune 18-Dec-1918, Page 8
1921
Postmaster Auburtin Hypolite Barré (1891-1980) spoke on "The Handling of Perishable Mail" at a postmasters convention in New Orleans in 1921.
Pictured below, he was also the local agent for the Shreveport Times newspaper.
This is a photo from an old technical article about road paving that featured Mooringsport. This appears to be looking east toward the old depot, so the two story building on the right would be approximately where Springer's, later Petit's, service station was/is.
Another picture from the same article showing a stretch of the Old Mooringsport Road (Hwy 538), looking north, and north of "Four Corners" (intersection of 538 and Hwy 1) between Mooringsport and Oil City.
Another 1920s era view of downtown, looking north along the railroad tracks.
Source: KCS calendar picture provided by Rodney Rothenberger.
1923
On September 11, 1923 a young man robbed the Mooringsport bank of $5,000 and locked cashier Charles Morefield and clerk Minter Bauguss in the vault. Fleeing in a stolen car taken near Trees City, he was cornered in Marshall, Texas where he committed suicide.
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| Hattiesburg (MS) American 12-Sep-1923 |
Note the Sheriff Hughes mentioned in the article is Sheriff Tom Hughes referred to in Lead Belly's song Fannin Street.
Said to my mama,
'Mama, you don't know
If the Fannin Street women gonna kill me
Well, you might as well let me go'
'Mama, you don't know
If the Fannin Street women gonna kill me
Well, you might as well let me go'
Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr. Tom Hughes town
Epilogue (Note this is a Quinn Martin production. (smile)): In 1928, Bank cashier Moreland was later charged with a crime and pled guilty to making a fraudulent entry to his own account in 1928.Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr. Tom Hughes town
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| Monroe News Star 03-Sec-1928 Page 11 |
A description of the community appearing in a news feature about North Caddo Parish towns.
Shreveport Times 20-Oct-1923, Page 14
1926
A rare southward-looking view of the Mooringsport drawbridge, Notice the counterweights, later removed, that were used to raise the midsection..
Shreveport Times 31-Oct-1926, Page 8.
1928
In January 1928, a seemingly innocuous grass fire quickly grew and caught several buildings on fire, causing an estimated $50,000 damage. The Shreveport Fire Department was called out to assist in battling the blaze.
1926
A rare southward-looking view of the Mooringsport drawbridge, Notice the counterweights, later removed, that were used to raise the midsection..
Shreveport Times 31-Oct-1926, Page 8.
1928
In January 1928, a seemingly innocuous grass fire quickly grew and caught several buildings on fire, causing an estimated $50,000 damage. The Shreveport Fire Department was called out to assist in battling the blaze.
1932
Fire in town destroys three houses, including the telephone exchange.
1933
Another glimpse of the town, this time in 1933.
1936
Frank E. Chalk, 53, Chief Civil Engineer for the Gulf Refining Company, Dies at Shreveport
Per the La Grange (TX) Journal, 14-May-1936, page 7; which cites his obituary originally published in the Shreveport Journal, he began his career with the Gulf Pipe Line Company at Beaumont, Texas and was assigned to Mooringsport on three different occasions; the first being in 1907, when notably he created the first map of the Caddo field for the company. He later transferred to Gulf's Shreveport office, where he worked until his death.
Source: Fayette County (TX) History
1940
A view of the depot looking north. The top of drawbridge over Caddo Lake, with counterweights intact, is visible in the background.
Ridge personal collection
Judge H. F "Frank" Ivey, identified as Mooringsport's first mayor, dies. He was appointed by Governor Jared Y. Sanders in 1910 and also served as justice-of-the peace for 25.years.
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Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune 16-Dec-1940 Page 15
He is buried in the Mooringsport Cemetery.
1941
For a second time, a tornado strikes Mooringsport.
Source: New Orleans Times Picayune 11-Jun-1941 Page 13
The local depot lost its roof in the storm.
Shreveport Times 11-Jun-1941, Page 3
Then Shreveport Public Utilities Commissioner and later Mayor Clyde Fant turns the first shovel of dirt for construction of the Southwestern Electric Power Company plant on the north shore of Caddo Lake. The Mooringsport water tower is visible in the background.
Times 23-Jan-1946, Page 3
To be continued......
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