Covington: 200 Years

Covington: Celebrating 200 Years

A Message From Mayor Mike Cooper

Culture, character, community -- straightforward, clear-cut words, each independent of the other. Yet when we unite these three simple words, and blend with Covington Bicentennial, the suggestion of the language becomes significant, defining, expressive -- memorializing our past, resounding our present, and anticipating our future. “Covington Bicentennial -- Culture, Character, Community,” the theme chosen by our Bicentennial Committee, illuminates and epitomizes Covington.

Our traditions and customs -- our culture -- began July 4, 1813, when our City was founded by John Wharton Collins. Our spirit and moral fiber -- our character -- are attributes that differentiate and distinguish Covington from other cities. Our people, natives and “come here’s” alike, notably contribute to our nature and enduring fortitude. We are a community in the purest definition of the word -- a diverse group of people, living in a common location, who share a common interest; and that interest is Covington. It is all of you, our Covington people, who make up the wonderful and exquisite fabric of our neighborhoods, our families, our community.

Profoundly inspired by my father’s service to Covington, Ernest J. Cooper, Mayor (1967-1991), I proudly serve as Mayor today, and humbly carry on the legacy our forefathers have left to us, their children. Joining together in celebration of Covington’s Bicentennial is not to be taken lightly, for we must know who we are and where we’ve been in order to understand our worth today. It is only then, together as a community sharing our attitudes, values, and goals, that we can continue to preserve the environment we have treasured, not only now for our children and grandchildren, but for future generations.

I wholeheartedly encourage all of you to take part in our 200th birthday events and festivities, as they promise to awaken memories of our past and renew historical knowledge; let us together as a community, memorialize, resound, and anticipate Covington through commemoration and celebration of our Bicentennial.

Regards,

Mike Cooper Mayor

3 A Message From Mayor Mike Cooper

4 Introduction

5 Carving Out Our Place in Time

8 Who’s In A Name?

11 Our French Heritage 13 The Civil War 18 Boom Town 24 From “Come Heres” to “Old Timers” 30 A New Beginning 30 Bicentennial Events 31 New Life for the Southern Hotel

Sponsor Profiles

32 Champagne Beverage Company 34 St. Tammany Parish Hospital

Publisher

Associate Publisher

Editor

Art Director

Brad Growden

Managing Editor

Stephen Faure

Editorial Assistant

Lauren Smith

Business Manager

Jane Quillin

Advertising Account Executives

Lori Murphy Poki Hampton Jan Murphy

Brenda Breck

Poki Hampton

Candice Laizer

Barbara Roscoe

Hali Ungar

Graphic Designer

Intern

On the Cover

Jennifer Starkey Alexandra Wimley Artist Gretchen Armbruster

Covington: Celebrating 200 Years is a publication

of Inside Northside Magazine. ©2013

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photo: STEPHEN FAURE

Covington

As we celebrate Covington’s 200th birthday, Inside Northside looks back on the journey that has brought us to today. It’s not really hard to do. The town’s rich history is there for everyone to see as you stroll around downtown—or St. John, as the town’s founder called the area.

The names of the town fathers live on in our streets. Collins, Gibson and Kirkland streets; Jesse Jones, Penn Mill and Hosmer Mill roads, all represent the earliest of families who shaped Covington for generations.

More streets—with unusually Yankee-sounding names like Boston, Columbia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Temperance—reflect the town fathers’ mainly British backgrounds. That the streets are lined with decidedly Southern moss-covered oaks that shade them from decidedly non-New England summers breathes uniqueness into Covington’s history at every turn of a corner.

This special Bicentennial section is not an abbreviated history of Covington chronicling dates and events. Instead, we tried to do what Inside Northside does best. Whenever possible, we cover Covington’s journey by telling stories about its people. A look at the first Britishdescended “come heres” (everyone began as a “come here”) and those who later gave the town a French flavor 50 years after the French gave up Louisiana. We examine the tough times Covington residents faced during the Civil War, including the “invasion” of Covington. Our story continues with the coming of the railroads, lumber companies and resorts, and the emerging family dynasties that prepared a firm base for the explosive growth that was to come later with the Causeway and bring us to today.

Space and time meant we couldn’t include everything in our Bicentennial section, but past issues of Inside Northside have told many stories about Covington’s history, its people and its institutions. Much of the information and quotes incorporated into this special section are taken from those original articles, especially those by author Ann Gilbert, whom we gratefully acknowledge.

Through the years, we’ve covered arts and entertainment and celebrated many Covington artists whose work has graced our cover; legacies of Walker Percy and the Sidney Fuhrmann and Nikki Barranger family legacies; Playmakers and Mardi Gras and most recently, the St. John Fools of Misrule making an old tradition new again in Mr. Wharton’s saintly division. We’ve taken a look back at Covington’s schools and churches, St. Paul’s, St. Scholastica and St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College, and the history of Covington High School during its own centennial milestone this year.

While the Columbia Street Landing is a quiet oasis now, we urge you to take a walk down Columbia, past Smith’s Hardware, the Frederick Building and the old bank buildings; and past the Masonic Temple to the old landing by the river. Conjure up a scene from the past: you’re standing at a bustling port, with steamships and schooners and tugs and oyster luggers making their way up from Lake Pontchartrain and points beyond. Make way for that ox-cart loaded with cotton headed for the steamer Josie—Covington, your future is calling!

Introduction

As a complement to this special section, we have gathered into an e-book collection the many articles about Covington and its people from the pages of Inside Northside. We sincerely thank all of the writers whose stories are included. The e-book is available via a link on our website, insidenorthside.com.

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Bicentennial “The best thing about Covington is that it is, in a certain sense, out of place and time … One can sniff the ozone from the pine trees, visit the local bars, eat crawfish, and drink Dixie beer and feel as good as it is possible to feel in this awfully interesting century.”

Not much has changed since Walker Percy, Covington’s most well-known literary resident, wrote down his feelings about his adopted hometown back in 1980 when the city was a mere 167 years old.

There’s always been something appealing about this stretch of land along the Bogue Falaya— whether it’s the pine trees and ozone (if not the crawfish and Dixie beer), or the gently flowing stream that became a superhighway of commerce.

John Wharton Collins, Covington’s founder, came to Louisiana in 1810 to join his brother William, who had staked out 600 acres on the northshore below the Badon Plantation on the Tchefuncte River. Sisters of the two brothers married Robert and Henry Badon,

carving out our place in time

photo: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH LIBRARY, NORMA CORE COLLECTION

The beginning

Native Americans were the first human inhabitants to appreciate the uniqueness of the area; their legacy lives on through their descendants and through the names of area landmarks. “Bogue Falaya,” for example, is “long river;” “Tchefuncte” is the Choctaw word for “chinquapin,” a small oak tree.

The first European settlers arrived on the banks of the Bogue Falaya when the water, pine trees and ozone were actually a part of the Kingdom of Spain. The land between the Pearl and Mississippi rivers was never French territory (although it was, for a time, British) and not part of Louisiana until 1810.

Jacques Dreux is famously the first “come here” owner of the land that was to become Covington, taking possession in 1800 of a 40-arpent Spanish land grant at the head of navigation of the Bogue Falaya.

“Jacques Dreux was my great-great-greatgreat-uncle,” former mayor Keith Villere says. “He was the one who sold the land to the founder of Covington, John Wharton Collins.” Stories like Villere’s are not uncommon in Covington. All over the community, one meets people whose relatives settled here a long, long time ago.

whose mother, Catherine, had acquired 1,600 acres through a Spanish land grant in 1785.

On May 16, 1813, John Collins purchased Dreux’s property for $2,300, using $2,000 that was the dowry of his wife, Mary. Inscribed on the map presented to Parish Judge James Tate was “The Division of St. John of Wharton, founded on July 4, 1813, is humbly dedicated to the late Thomas Jefferson.” Collins named the town Wharton after his grandfather. When Collins approached the legislature for a charter in 1816, it was granted, but the name of the town was changed to Covington in honor of a hero of the War of 1812.

Collins named the divisions of his town after relatives, but tacked the word “saint” before each: St. Mary, St. Ann, St. Thomas, St. George, St. William, St. Albert and St. John,

Opposite: The Bogue Falaya passes lazily by the once-bustling Columbia Street Landing.

Below: Jesse R. Jones had a tremendous influence on the growth of Covington and St. Tammany Parish. His home, which was located near the entrance to Bogue Falaya Park, was demolished and many of the bricks and timbers were used in the restoration of Sunnybrook in the late 1950s.

Co vi n g t o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 5

Covington was one of the first to advocate the eight-hour day, which was revolutionary then; most people worked from dawn to dusk. … He was fluent in French and became the official interpreter for the state legislature. He was a poet, a playwright, a newspaper publisher, a university economics professor and a judge.”

John Gibson eventually sold the family holdings in Covington and moved to New Orleans. He successfully published a newspaper, the Argus.

Above: A postcard depicting an activity that helped define early Covington as teams of oxen hauled cargo to and from town for shipment on a schooner or steamer.

Right: The St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court archives are home to many documents relating to Covington’s early history. Settlers registered their cattle brands with the clerk’s office. Ezekial P. Ellis, great-grandfather of historian Judge Frederick S. Ellis, registered his brand in 1838.

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His widow married his nephew John Gibson. They raised young Thomas Wharton Collins, who later changed the spelling of his name to Collens. (Some say he had become enamored of the French culture and wanted his name to be pronounced “Co-lon,” with the accent on the second syllable.)

John Wharton Collins’ great-greatgrandson, Thomas Wharton Collens Jr., who died in Covington in 2010 at the age of 92, donated all of the first Thomas Wharton Collens’ papers to the Historic New Orleans Collection. He said, “Collens achieved international fame for his writings on labor. He

Early movers and shakers

St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court archivist Robin Leckbee Perkins is not only the custodian of many documents regarding Covington’s earliest days, she is a keen student of area history. She talks about the families of the movers and shakers like Jesse R. Jones, William Bagley, Obediah Kirkland and James Hosmer, whose industry planted the seeds for Covington to become a center of commerce.

“Collins had the plan, but he wasn’t able to bring the settlement to fruition,” says Perkins.

“That would have been Jones, Bagley, Elijah Terrel and Hezekiah Thompson. They were young, more the age of Bernard de Marigny, who was born in 1785. These were Bernard’s contemporaries. In fact, he knew William Bagley very well. Bernard de Marigny and Bagley were using Bagley’s ships to move cargo off Marigny’s Fontainebleau Plantation.”

Perkins says so much is known about the area’s earliest days because many of Bagley’s meticulous business records survive. The Clerk of Court also has many records filed in conjunction with actions brought by and against various businesses, as well as succession records.

Jesse Jones’ first wife was Leminda Kirkland, Obediah Kirkland’s daughter, Perkins says. “They had one child, Mary Jane Jones.

But poor Leminda was dead before 1825.

She’s just one of the young women who didn’t survive here. I think it was harder on them.

document photos: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH CLERK OF COURT, ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT

which is downtown Covington. He gave his streets names such as Temperance, Economy and Industry; some remain, but others have been erased from the town map.

Collins was not to enjoy his town for very long. In 1817, he died in New Orleans at age 35, when his son was 6 years old. Collins was buried on land later donated by his widow for use as a cemetery, which is across the street from the City Hall.

Bicentennial

But it is interesting that Mary Jane grew up to marry a Hosmer and became one of the matriarchs of this other important Covington family. The Hosmer house on the hill became the site of St. Joseph Abbey,” recounts Perkins.

“Obediah Kirkland ran the big tavern and hotel down at Old Landing when he came to Covington in 1819. The Kirklands were a very colorful family, and he was quite a character himself. Obediah’s sons were involved in politics, probably due in large part to their brother-in-law, Jesse Jones. In addition to being an attorney, Jesse was also a judge.

William Hinds Kirkland, one of Obediah’s sons, was the clerk of court for many years.

The Jones and Kirkland families had the town sewed up, as far as I can tell.” Perkins wonders.

In addition to his law practice, Jones founded a brickyard, one of many that eventually sprang up in the area. Bricks and lumber were hot commodities in the 19th century, as New Orleans experienced phenomenal growth.

Covington fed that growth, Perkins says, becoming a bustling commercial port with warehouses, hotels and taverns. The warehouses often held bricks being readied for shipment. The ox lots in the downtown area are another relic of the time. They were the “parking lots” for bringing bricks, lumber, pitch and tar by ox team into town.

William Bagley was the shipping magnate of Covington in his day, running a fleet of steamboats. An interesting note by historian Adrian D. Schwartz is that Bagley also ran the local moonshine still. Schwartz

says that Bagley, who raised livestock, “protected his herds against intrusion by St. Tammany brown bears by baiting them with wild honey spiked with the product of his still. It made them easy marks for his rifle, and their fur was always profitable.”

Perkins notes, “Bagley may have been the first person to run steamships out of Covington. We have a record of him bringing the Corsair here into Old Covington in 1832.

We also know that Bagley sailed the Gulf Coast area. One record shows him going to Pensacola, but he may have gone much farther. He sailed some of his craft himself, and he hired crews and captains for other vessels. He had quite a big enterprise going here, and I’ve got lists of his steamships.”

She adds, “I love that we have all these records!”

Above: A postcard depicting the steamer

Josie. Below: Covington’s mayoral election returns from June 1833 at the Clerk of Court archives.

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Covington

as “a hero of the War of 1812.” While a wave of patriotism following the end of the war in 1815 found many new communities throughout U.S. frontier territories being named after various war heroes, why did the settlers along the Bogue Falaya pick Gen. Covington?

It turns out that prior to Covington’s service in the War of 1812, he spent quite a bit of time in Louisiana and, it would be safe to assume, in the area that would become the city of Covington.

His connection with the town that would bear his name goes back at least to Dec. 7, 1810, and the end of the West Florida Rebellion. The area that would become Wharton, and then Covington, was still known as the Bario of Buck Falaya. It, along

who’s in a name?

Above: John Wharton Collins, who is buried Covington’s cemetery, founded the town of Wharton. It was renamed in honor of Gen. Leonard Covington, who played a part in bringing the West Florida Republic, below, into the United States as part of Louisiana.

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A TALE OFTEN TOLD in various histories of Covington has more than a strong whiff of urban legend about it. Supposedly, the city was named when Jesse Jones spied a barrel of Kentucky whiskey that was stamped “Covington” and decided it, rather than the British noble Wharton family, should be honored by having his home town named after it.

More likely, the town was named in honor of Gen. Leonard Covington, often cited simply

with the rest of what would become the Florida parishes—St. Tammany, Washington, Tangipahoa, Livingston, East and West Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes— were part of an independent nation, the West Florida Republic.

Formed a mere 74 days earlier from territory formerly held by the Spanish, and before that, the British, the infant republic was “adopted,” so to speak, as U.S. territory by proclamation of President James Madison.

Madison ordered Gov. W.C.C. Claiborne to take possession of it as part of the Louisiana Territory, finally settling the awkward question of whether the West Florida territory had been included in the Louisiana Purchase seven years earlier.

Covington, a colonel at the time, was a Maryland native and a former U.S. Congressman from that state. When Claiborne left Washington, D.C., with his marching orders from the president, he headed to Washington, Miss., and Fort Adams (both near

Bicentennial

Natchez), where he, with 300 troops and two artillery pieces, was called upon to proceed toward Baton Rouge. After some posturing and grumbling on their part, in the face of Covington’s force, the West Florida Republic leadership agreed to be subsumed into the United States, and Claiborne ordered the single-starred Bonnie Blue flag be struck down and the 15-star Stars and Stripes raised.

of 1812 was raging along the United States frontier with Canada. Col. Covington was promoted to Brigadier General on August 1, 1813. He was sent to Sackett’s Harbor on Lake Erie in New York. In November, his troops participated in one of the last attempts by the United States to invade Canada. Covington was wounded at the Battle of Crysler Fields on the 11th and died Nov. 14.

In his report on the matter, Secretary of War John Armstrong stated, “It is due to his rank, his work and his services that I should make particular mention of Brigadier General Covington, who received a mortal wound through the body while animating his men and leading them to the charge. He fell where he fought, at the head of his men, and survived but two days.”

A Covington Road

In 1977, Powell A. Casey documented the history of the military roads and camps near Madisonville and Covington in the St. Tammany Historical Society Gazette. Casey noted that in the year after Col. Covington led his forces to the capitulation of Baton Rouge, he was tasked with building a road, which was identified on some maps as “Gen. Wilkinson’s Road.” The army ordered the road to be built from Baton Rouge to Fort Stoddert near Mobile, Ala. Col. Covington was in charge of its construction, which lasted from 1811 to 1812.

A Hero’s Demise

While John Wharton Collins dedicated the Town of Wharton on July 4, 1813, the War

Some sources report Covington’s last words as he led his men were, “Independence forever!” and yet others say, “Come on, my lads! Let us see how you will deal with these militiamen!” Either version paints a portrait of a courageous military man whose leadership was sorely needed.

While John Wharton Collins had dedicated the town in 1813 to honor his ancestors, after the end of the War of 1812 new towns around the frontier were being named after the war’s heroes, both living and fallen. Jackson, Miss., is an example; in addition to Covington, La., cities in Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee were named after Leonard

Above: Gen. Leonard Covington. Below: Covington is buried in the military cemetery in Sackets Harbor, N.Y.

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Covington

Wharton to Covington

Above: The Collins family relocated to New Orleans as John Wharton Collins’ health deteriorated. Later, the family sold off its holdings in Covington after his death. Here, in 1832, his son, Thomas Wharton Collins, sells two lots to Uriah Smith.

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Though only having achieved statehood four years earlier, the practice of Louisiana politics as a spectator sport seemed to be maturing by 1816. Collins and his family controlled most of the land west of the Bogue Falaya between Wharton and Madisonville.

Trade with New Orleans across and through area waterways was gaining momentum. That year, one traveler writes that “Cotton, beef, neat [livestock], pork, hides, dairy cheese, lumber, pitch, tar and lime, and many other articles, including all kinds of poultry” were being shipped to the New Orleans market. All this trade attracted the attention of ambitious men, and rivalries were sure to develop.

In Sesquicentennial in St. Tammany: The Early Years of Covington, Madisonville, Mandeville, & Abita Springs, Louisiana, which historian Adrian D. Schwartz prepared in 1963, he writes, “By the beginning of 1816, there was enough ferment in village politics to brew strong discontent against the Collins faction.”

When interviewed in 2002, a Collins descendent, Thomas Wharton Collins Jr.,

Schwartz reports that a Collins ally, Sen. Kemper, “read a letter from Collins urging that the creation of a board of trustees … was most desirable, but that he protested against that part of the bill which sought to have the worthy name of Wharton erased from the public dedication he had made, as being ‘frivolous and in violation of his rights as a citizen.’”

In response, Terry claimed to have a petition signed by several Wharton residents requesting the change, and the bill passed quickly.

Collins had been ill for some time.

Schwartz says that he had never recovered from his service in the Battle of New Orleans and the harsh winter weather that followed.

Although having his family’s name removed from his town was a terrible blow to him, Collins must have felt some vindication when the first elections were held in June that year.

Four of the five trustees elected included three of his faction and himself. Also, his nephew John Gibson was appointed town secretary.

Collins’ health continued to deteriorate, and he died on Dec. 27, 1817.

document photo: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH CLERK OF COURT, ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT

Covington, as are counties in Alabama and Mississippi.

suggested some citizens couldn’t stand the thought of being named after British gentry.

“Their feelings about the British were not the greatest. Remember, they had just finished fighting them in the Battle of New Orleans.”

In February 1816, a state senator from St. Helena parish, Champness Terry, who also represented St. Tammany, introduced a bill to the legislature to change the name of the town of Wharton to Covington and to provide for a governing body and other items. While he may have been driven by admiration of the general’s service, his action was most probably driven by ill will toward Collins, a political rival. (Terry had also been elected to the West Florida Republic legislature, which Covington had helped end.)

photo: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH LIBRARY, NORMA CORE COLLECTION

Bicentennial

Many people rightly assume that the history of Louisiana is tied to the history of French colonialism in America. However, it is wrong to think that of Covington and the other parishes carved out of what was West Florida, over which the French flag never flew.

“Our earliest settlers from 1805 to 1840 were mostly of British background, such as the Collins, Morse, Kirkland, Gibson, Tate, Maples, Broxton and Jones families,” says Perkins. “As Covington grew into its identity as our parish seat of commerce, we began to enjoy and be influenced by an influx of new settlers from France.”

The subject of a French migration to Covington is of great interest to Perkins, who prepared a talk on the subject for Bastille Day celebrations in 2012. “Many French persons emigrated to the United States after 1850,” she says. “Most were economic refugees fleeing the failed French Revolution of 1848. Many of us are aware of the French Revolution of 1789, famous for the storming of the Bastille and the freeing of the political prisoners held there. But what happened in 1848 resulted in the abdication of the last King of France, King Louis Phillipe I of the Orleans dynasty, and the establishment of the French Second Republic.”

Perkins notes that in 1851, more than 20,000 French immigrants arrived in the United States, and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine during the Franco-Prussian War also resulted in increased French immigration. She says, “Many were skilled tradespeople and businessmen and preferred life in urban centers such as New York, New Orleans and Chicago. Some made their way to Covington.”

our French heritage A quick search of the 1860 U.S. Census reveals 128 persons residing in St. Tammany who were born in France. Perkins says many left their cultural mark on the Covington area.

A few of the notable ones include:

Above: The Bernard Barrere mercantile store ca. 1906. The 1900 U.S. Census indicates

• Joinville Bercegeay, a Frenchman with family in New Orleans who had a pottery on the banks of the Bogue Falaya River in Covington. His business was located on six large city lots at the end of today’s Lee Lane down to the river. Bercegeay also had a store in Covington from 1880-1895 under the name Bercegeay and Kempe. This firm seemed to be a wholesaler of general goods,

Barrere’s father, Joseph, was born in France in 1845. The building has undergone many changes but is still recognizable as the St. Tammany Art Association Art House on Columbia Street.

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Covington

such as garden produce, sugar, coffee, live chickens, calico, clothing items, fabric on the bolt and leather goods.

• Alsatian-born John Munsch owned Live Oak Place just north of town in the vicinity of today’s Camp Abbey. He sold Concord red and Herbemont white wines he made himself, grape jellies and rooted grape vine cuttings.

Below: The Planche bakery, which stood at the corner of Columbia

• Pierre LaCroix established Mulberry Grove north of Covington, where he grew mulberry trees needed for silkworm cultivation. Monsieur Charles Thierry cared for the cocoons at Mulberry Grove and harvested the raw silk.

and Lockwood Streets.

Kit Friedrichs-Baumann believes Maurice and Victor Planche, her grandfather and greatgrandfather, are the

Among other Covington-area French immigrants who left their mark are tailor Francis Goarthus, baker Victor Pechon, grocers Eulalia Beaucondray and Clothilde Laborde and hoteliers George Reber and Frederic Jaufroid.

“The gift most French settlers brought to Covington was their awareness of culture, style, good eating and celebration.

They were dedicated to the development of our town as a place full of joie de vivre,” Perkins says. “I believe it was due to the French citizens in Covington that we held the first Mardi Gras celebration in these parts, on February 25, 1879. There was a parade and a romantic ball, illuminated by torches. The young adult children of the families mentioned above served as some of the first Carnival royalty.”

photo: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH LIBRARY, NORMA CORE COLLECTION

gentlemen in the front.

• Jules B. Maille billed himself as a silk merchant in 1850 and seems to have occupied premises on the comer of New Hampshire and Boston streets. Jules’ son, born in 1848, had a career as chief deputy at the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s

office by 1880. Silk produced in St. Tammany Parish was proudly displayed at the 1884 World’s Fair in New Orleans. Perkins says that silk production became too expensive and ceased in the Covington area by 1885.

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illustration: REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF APPLEWOOD BOOKS, PUBLISHERS OF AMERICA’S LIVING PAST, CARLISLE, MA 01741

Bicentennial

The Civil War years were hard on Covington and other northshore communities.

St. Tammany Parish was part of a Confederate state. However, Union forces controlled nearby areas, including New Orleans and the Mississippi River. At the end of April 1862, about a year after Louisiana seceded from the United States, the Union captured New Orleans. The Civil War would rage on for three more years and Louisiana—and Covington along with it—struggled through the Reconstruction period until its end in 1877.

Covington and the areas surrounding the town fell victim to both Confederate and Union forces at different times as troops foraged the countryside for supplies. A family’s horses, poultry, hogs, cattle and flour were likely to be confiscated without any compensation. At times when farmers were left alone and had surplus crops and livestock, trade with New Orleans, Covington’s number one market for selling its produce, was off-limits because of a Union blockade and a Confederate order prohibiting trade with the enemy.

St. Tammany had voted against Louisiana’s secession from the United States, as did St. Helena Parish. However, the men of St. Tammany heeded the call to arms once Louisiana had seceded and the Confederate

States of America fired the opening salvos of the war on Fort Sumter in April 1861.

In his very thorough history, St. Tammany Parish, L’autre Côte Du Lac, Judge Frederick S. Ellis reviews the various companies in which men from the Covington area served.

While Miles’ Legion was a popular unit, there also were the St. Tammany Regiment of the Louisiana Militia, the St. Tammany Greys, the St. Tammany Artillery and Mandeville Rifles. Names of prominent Covington families are found among these units’ leaders— Hosmer, Penn, Baham, Morgan, Sharp, Hennen, Joyner and Cooper, for example.

All told, Ellis notes that an estimated 400 St. Tammany men had gone off to war by April 1862.

Covington and St. Tammany saw no major battles during the war. The Union controlled New Orleans and the Mississippi River, along with Lake Pontchartrain and its approaches, without much need to invade St. Tammany. Few Confederate troops were regularly posted in the area, although Ellis mentions Camp Slocum in Covington in October 1862, with three small companies of mounted rangers. Their placement may have been in response to the closest thing

the Civil War

Above: Harper’s Weekly published an account, accompanied by this picture, of Confederate loyalists who were exiled from New Orleans to the northshore.

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Covington

The Invasion of Covington

On July 27, 1862, the U.S. Navy ship Grey Cloud entered the Tchefuncte River carrying five companies of the 12th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment. Ellis recounts that as the ship passed Madisonville, it was fired on by Confederate troops and the Grey Cloud responded with artillery fire. The Confederates retreated with no casualties but reported that a woman and child were killed by the shot. The Grey Cloud continued toward Covington to a point where the Confederates had sunk one of their own ships, the Oregon, blocking the river south of the city.

The ship landed and the soldiers marched to Covington. Adrian D. Schwartz relays an eyewitness account. He states the Yankee soldiers were Vermont, rather than Connecticut, troops. Either way, the New Englanders were by no means acclimatized to a Louisiana July.

With the obstruction in the Tchefuncte discovered, the march to Covington was taken up on foot and the town was occupied. The only civilian officer present was John Eadis Smith, a merchant whose home still survives in Rutland near New Hampshire Street. As Coroner he was acting as Sheriff for the Parish and from here the Blue Coats learned that the Confederates were concentrating on the Tchefuncte bank to cut off their return to the Lake. The Vermonters, in heavy woolen uniforms, then marched through Columbia Street with the Stars and Stripes as far as the bridgehead on Gibson Street, returned, and ordered that all Confederate insignia should be brought down including the flag that floated over Coroner Smith’s residence. This was 14 I ns ide N orthside

complied with.

This writer recalls the statement from Miss Susie Kentzel, one of the daughters of Mr. Smith, who said as a girl she served drinking water from their home well to the thirsting Yankee soldiers before their forced march back to Madisonville. As a result of the rapid pace under which they were ordered, two men collapsed and died from sunstroke.

The invasion of Covington was thus a brief one, causing not much of a stir except in the memories of a few citizens and a notation in the local history books.

Nonetheless, while Covington remained free from enemy occupation, its citizens paid a heavy price as their economy, tied inextricably to trade with a now off-limits New Orleans market, sank into ruin.

Exile on the Tchefuncte

Another invasion of sorts occurred in February 1863 when two shiploads of New Orleans citizens arrived from the city. Although he had been removed from the city two months before, the city was still reeling from the Union occupation under the hated “beast,” Gen. Benjamin Butler.

The Union issued a policy forcing New Orleanians to sign an oath of loyalty to the United States or be categorized as an enemy. Many signed. The women and children who did not were forced to leave and placed on steamships to Madisonville. It’s not specifically documented, but without a doubt, a number of these exiles either had family or settled in Covington.

Harper’s Weekly’s New Orleans correspondent was on hand, and the March 7 issue carried pictures of the event, along with his report. An excerpt of it:

document photos: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH CLERK OF COURT, ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT

to a Union invasion of St. Tammany, which had occurred during the summer.

Bicentennial Return of Registered Enemies To Dixie We steered due north, right across Lake Pontchartrain, and, entering the small Chefunctee River or Bayou, got up to the little village called Madisonville about noon.

Here we saw the Stars and Bars flying, and the place in command of Lieutenant M. Cassetty. Madisonville is very picturesque, the shore being covered with fine live-oak trees, whose enormous gnarled trunks and twisted roots look as if they have been defying the storms of centuries.

Hardships of War

Many families were left without support as husbands, sons and brothers joined the Confederate army. It fell on the police jury to distribute funds to the soldiers’ dependants, with the state setting aside $5 million for this purpose.

Ellis notes that dependent wives, fathers and mothers were to receive $10 per month; children, brothers and sisters under 12 and other dependants were allotted $5 per month.

The St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s archives contain some poignant documents from this period. Records were kept of these disbursements, and lists from the various wards of the parish survive in the clerk’s files. Covington was part of Ward 3. In part, the list states:

The Wanderer

One of the most fascinating documents in the St. Tammany Clerk of Court’s archives is a copy of a Covington newspaper, The Wanderer, dated March 26, 1864. It was published by M. J. Scott and its editor was James Bowie.

That particular edition of the paper illustrates the frustration that many must have felt during the war in Covington. Other than one advertisement, the front page of the one-sheet paper is taken up by an anonymous editorial entitled “How to End the War in Six Months” by “a New Orleans refugee.” It is a lengthy screed detailing the economic complaints many in the South must have felt towards the North, before and during the war.

One item details a Union excursion into St. Tammany: A Yankee gunboat took a look into the mouth of the river at Madisonville the past week. She shied off and took deep water as her safest locality.

Opposite and below: The Wanderer was a

While such enemy incursions must have been frightening for residents up and down the river, the next item related to the economic hardship they faced from the military.

newspaper that was published briefly in Covington during the Civil War. In remarkable condition, a surviving

Mrs. Emile Laurent four children. Jos. aged eleven years, John Baptist ten years, Anatole seven and Clara five. Has two sons being in the army, Victor Laurent, Co. C. Miles’ Legion and Emile Laurent, Capt.

Bridaux Company. $30.00 Several other entries for the 3rd Ward follow.

At the end, the list is attested to: “Total amount due 3rd ward $250.00 a month. F. A. Cousin member P. Jury 3rd Ward.” A few more entries list family members serving under Capt. Bridaux.

It is likely, however, that the reference is to Capt.

Bredow, who Ellis says led a company of rangers.

Miles’ cavalry, formerly Miles’ Legion, paid this part of the country a visit this past week, gathering up the command, conscripting all of the available age, recruiting, etc. We are sorry to say the impression left behind is none to the credit of the command;

issue is in the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s archives.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 15

Covington however, they may have been acting under orders; and in that case, are excusable. A more persecuted people never existed, than those of St. Tammany.

The sole advertisement on the paper’s front page would, one would think, have brought a breath of life into the downtrodden town. Placed by C. G. Cousins, the ad states in very bold print that: It is with great pleasure that I announce to the public the largest stock of Dry Goods that has been in Covington since the war, for which I will receive COUNTRY PRODUCE such as Corn, Chickens, Bacon, Lard, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Sheep Beef Hogs, Eggs and CONFEDERATE MONEY.

Thread, Shoe Thread, Ribbons, Toilet Soap, Matches, Segars, Smoking Tobacco, Chewing Tobacco, Pins, Combs, Buttons, Corsets, Skirts, Playing Cards, Pipes, Candles, Coffee, Letter Paper, Drop Shot, Varnish, Gentlemen’s, Ladies’ and Misses’ Shoes…

Ending the list of items he has available, Cousins says to those who may have been thirsting for refreshment during those tough times, “And Whiskey without end.”

Although Gen. Lee surrendered his army to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the Civil War did not end in Louisiana until Shreveport area-based Gen. Kirby Smith, one of the last Confederates to surrender, did so on May 26, 1865.

After the war

My stock comprises, in part, Mourning Calicos, Calicos of all pat, Alpaccas, Flannels, Sewing

16 I ns ide N orthside

Upon the end of the war, a committee of parish leaders met at the courthouse in Covington in August

Bicentennial 1865. Led by Alfred Hennen, the group included Covingtonians James Hosmer (Judge Jesse R. Jones’ grandson) and William Bagley. They issued a series of resolutions to be forwarded to the newly-appointed provisional governor Wells, recognizing his authority, the rights of the newly-freed African-Americans and the presidency of Andrew Johnson.

Ellis notes that carpetbagger rule, when Northern outsiders entered into local and state government and businesses, was the most corrupt era of Louisiana politics, depressing the state’s economy. Census data indicates the number of brickmakers, carpenters, hotel keepers and sailors in St. Tammany decreased after the war.

When full independence from Federal control took place in 1878 and the railroads arrived in the 1880s, recovery and growth followed for Covington.

An abundance of raw materials made the Covington area attractive. The earliest settlers, including Jesse Jones, had taken advantage of clay deposits found throughout St. Tammany and began

making bricks, a commodity always in demand for a growing region.

Ellis notes that in the days before the railroads came into the area, brickyards were by necessity founded near waterways. A major brickyard was founded post-Reconstruction by Gabriel “Gib” Parker along the Abita River near where it meets the Bogue Falaya.

Parker, Ellis says, must have been an exceptional person to achieve what he did during those times.

He quotes the St. Tammany Farmer, which reported Parker was born and raised a slave and became the owner of a fine farm growing cotton and rice and a brickyard in the Abita River, and two schooners.

Parker’s property was eventually acquired by the Alexius family and is now the area where the Tulane Primate Center is now located.

Parker’s story is only one example of the many changes that were in store for Covington as it moved into the 20th century.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 17

photo: COURTESY CENTER FOR SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA STUDIES, SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA UNIVERSITY

Covington

Much of the Covington we know today—the downtown buildings and many of the charming homes along live-oak lined streets—is the legacy of the commercial boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The coming of the railroads and the rapid increase in schooner and steamer traffic at the town’s boat landing provided an impetus for growth.

This was also the time when Covington and neighboring Abita Springs began to enjoy a reputation as great places to visit. Resorts sprang up as visitors came to enjoy breathing

boom town

the famous “ozone” air and drinking in the reputedly very pure water from area springs and artesian wells.

Arts and education blossomed. Many churches and schools were built. The monks arrived and founded the settlement of St. Benedict; their home, St. Joseph Abbey; and St. Joseph Seminary College. St. Paul’s, St. Scholastica and St. Peter’s schools were formed.

The roots of public education took hold as C. J. Schoen and Covington High schools were built.

(Covington High School hits its own centennial milestone in 2013.)

Covington’s first theaters appeared in the

Above: The steamer

docked in Mandeville, where passengers bound for Covington would catch the electric trolley to town.

Right: The busy river landing at Covington.

18 I ns ide N orthside

photo: COURTESY H.J. SMITH & SONS

Susquehanna often

Bicentennial early 1900s, and the town began earning a friendly reputation among artists everywhere.

From the days it was first settled until the 1930s, schooners and steamers journeyed up the Bogue Falaya to Covington’s Old Landing at the end of Jahncke Street and to the landing at the foot of Columbia Street. Covington was a busy port as ships hauled out cargo and hauled in dry goods and groceries—and, most importantly, transported people.

The area around Covington produced raw materials that fed the ever-growing city of New Orleans, where bricks, lime for mortar, and sand and lumber were needed for building.

St. Tammany-made products went into many historic buildings on the southshore, including the St. Louis Cathedral. The area produced another category of goods, pine products—tar, pitch and rosin—that were in high demand as naval supplies. As the call for these materials increased on the southshore, so did the number of vessels needed to transport them.

As might be expected, the more compelling accounts of travels across Lake Pontchartrain are found in personal letters and journals. The memories of one woman who came here in

photo: COURTESY KIT FRIEDRICHS-BAUMANN

Landings come alive

1886 remind us what the journey from the southshore to Covington was like back in the days before the Causeway. Pat Clanton shares a letter her grandmother, Mary Emelia McManus, called Amy, wrote to her family recalling her trip across the lake on the Camellia. Amy’s must have been a familiar story, as thousands of visitors, along with thousands of tons of cargo, were loaded and unloaded at the foot of Columbia Street during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

When we entered the beautiful Tchefuncte I was delighted beyond expression and sighed for a brush and

Above: Katie Planche Friedrichs’ St. Peter’s school class from the photo: COURTESY ST. SCHOLASTICA ACADEMY

mid- to late-1930s.

Left: Sister Florentine Yokum with a class of shorthand and typing students from St. Scholastica Academy standing in the Grotto in the 1920s.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 19

Covington piece of canvas and of course a little paint. The pretty little Bogue Falaya we entered next and found it more charming than the other.

Arriving at “Old Landing,” I looked around for my friends whom I failed to see and was about to ascend the stage of that very agreeable and accommodating gentleman, A. Frederick, when I heard a musical voice call my name; it was none other than the sprightly Josie. We three, Josie, Carrie and I started for Covington in a buggy drawn by the pride of the Noble Emile; Duck.

Amy McManus would, in a few years time, marry the man she referred to as “Noble,” Emile Frederick, who was known as “Boss” by just about everyone else in Covington. His sister Josie, mentioned in Amy’s letter, has her

The Millennial Gazette that in 1891, Weaver had a new schooner built and named it the Josie Weaver after his bride. The schooner was the first of three ships named Josie Weaver to land at Covington. Barnes notes what she would have carried on a typical trip, as well as what other ships would have carried traveling the Covington to New Orleans route: During the 1890s, the Josie Weaver sailed exclusively between Covington and New Orleans, carrying cargos of sand, cotton, tar, rosin, turpentine and clay to New Orleans. On one trip to New Orleans in November 1899, she carried 52 bales of cotton, 126 barrels of rosin, 26 barrels of turpentine, 250 barrels of sand and 25 barrels of clay. On her return voyages to Covington, she carried anything that could be loaded onto a schooner.

Right: Captain Weaver’s home. Below: The steamer

Josie was the third vessel Weaver named after his wife.

own connection with Covington and the shipping trade that lived on for many years.

Josie Frederick married Capt. Henry Weaver in 1889. Weaver was master of the schooner Two Sons, which for years had made weekly trips between Covington and New Orleans. Russell Barnes reported in 2000 for the St. Tammany Historical Society’s publication 20 I ns ide N orthside

Among her freight carrying contemporaries were the lake veterans F.M. Pippo, the Rosa A., owned by Jones & Pickett of Covington; the J.R. O ‘Rourke owned by L.P. Delcroix; and the St. Bartolomeo. Each of these schooners carried the same kinds of cargos as the Josie Weaver. Likewise, they charged much the same freight rates, 30 cents per bale of cotton, 15 cents per dry barrel and 10 cents per sack of produce.

Bicentennial

The schooner Josie Weaver was lost at the turn of the century. Weaver replaced her with a larger sailing ship of the same name. In 1908, he invested in building a much larger steamship he named simply Josie. The steamer carried both passengers and freight, and Barnes says she plied the waters from Columbia Street to the New Basin in New Orleans into the 1920s.

Excursion ships fed a blossoming tourist trade as hordes of New Orleanians fled the specters of yellow fever, malaria and cholera outbreaks that often plagued the city in the summertime. Ellis states that there were six such ships operating in 1879, including the Camellia (later the New Camellia) the Abita, Alice, Georgia Muncy, Heroine and Henry Wright, which ferried passengers to the supposedly more healthy “ozone” atmosphere and pure water that Covington and St. Tammany Parish offered.

The Ozone Belt

One of Covington’s most valuable commodities could not be packed up and shipped to the southshore—ozone.

What is ozone? Chemically, it’s an unstable form of oxygen, with three atoms (O3) rather than the normal two. The extra atom of oxygen becomes free to combine with other substances, and its presence in higher-

than-normal concentrations was thought to produce cleaner and healthier air.

Common wisdom of the day was that yellow fever didn’t stand a chance in Covington and that cases of tuberculosis were cured within a few months time. When yellow fever epidemics struck New Orleans, many other destinations were quarantined against people leaving the city, fearing they would bring the disease with them.

Covington welcomed the refugees, trusting the ozone to prevent any outbreaks.

In fact, the United States government made it official in 1891. Judge Ellis relates that after examining the area’s population and discovering the low percentage of deaths reported relative to the population as stated in the 1890 census, the census commissioner declared Covington the “most healthy place in the United States.”

Ellis goes on to report that during a yellow fever outbreak in 1897, a physician responded to a statement in a Chicago paper that Atlanta was the only Southern city not quarantined. Her letter

Above: Idyllic Sulfur Springs was a popular recreational area on the Bogue Falaya.

Below: Commuter trolleys travelling over the river into Covington.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 21

photo: COURTESY KIT FRIEDRICHS-BAUMANN

Covington

Above: Emile “Boss” Frederick and Maurice Planche’s Ford

was reprinted in the Farmer. She relayed the news that Covington had voted not to issue a quarantine and talked of the ozone:

streets in the 1930s.

Right: The second St. Tammany Parish courthouse served the parish until 1959.

Below: The Covington depot.

Covington is situated in a high, dry, piney region, being surrounded by a belt of long-leaf pine extending 150 miles to the north and east and between forty and fifty miles to the west. The air is filled with the balsamic odor.

There is a constant liberation of ozone and no germ disease of any kind has ever gained foothold there. The city has been known

and patronized by the old Creole families of New Orleans but as the population is very conservative no plans have been taken to make known the great sanitary advantages of this remarkable place.

I am constrained to make these statements that the people who are panic-stricken in regard to yellow fever may possibly read of 22 I ns ide N orthside

photo: H.J. SMITH & SONS

dealership at Boston and New Hampshire

this city of refuge so near at hand, and so that the tuberculous northerner may know that within twenty-four hours and with small expense he may find a climate where the tubercule bacillus cannot thrive.

This was all good news for the railroads, which latched onto these pronouncements and began feverishly selling excursions to Covington.

Travelers could take a steamer to Mandeville and board the train to Covington or Abita Springs, or take a boat to one of the landings in Covington, where they would be met by a wagon to carry their luggage while they strolled to their hotel.

Mulberry Grove and the Claiborne Cottages were popular resorts. In 1907, the Southern Hotel opened. The grand 34,000-square-foot, mission-style building became a landmark on Boston Street.

In conjunction with Covington’s 175th

Bicentennial had a beautiful veranda where young people could sit and talk while waiting for the mail to be unloaded and the boat ready to depart.

Inside the hotel were a ballroom and a parlor where one could dance until time to leave.

Burns recalled that the excursion business worked both ways: Covington residents would often day-trip to New Orleans. They would start by catching the same trolley that delivered guests to downtown Covington. He said, “It was a good way to spend an hour and a half with your girl and enjoy the good music the people on the excursion had. We’d go to Mandeville,

observed, with the advent of the automobile and vacation preferences shifting toward swimming and suntans rather than ozone air and mineral water, its star faded away and it ceased operating as a hotel in the 1960s.

In March 1982, the Greater Covington Chamber of Commerce published a charming interview with Covington natives Pauline Fuhrmann (mother of Pat Clanton) and Phillip Burns, who had both turned 90 earlier that year. They reminisced about life in Covington in the early 20th century and said the Southern Hotel not only attracted visitors from afar, it was also a gathering place for locals. The post office was located in the Southern Hotel, which

then ride the boat over to New Orleans and come right back. There was a big wooden walkway on the beach in Mandeville so people could walk right out on it into the boats.”

Covington also enjoyed its share of more casual establishments that provided refreshments and rest—the inns, saloons and a few fine boarding houses. The Seiler family opened a saloon on Columbia Street and also rented rooms. It was advertised as an “oyster saloon” and later, the Seiler Hotel. Emile “Boss” Frederick had a saloon that was destroyed along with most of the block bounded by Boston, Columbia, Florida and Rutland streets in a disastrous 1906 fire.

photo: H.J. SMITH & SONS

anniversary in 1988, the Times-Picayune ran a special section in which writer Keith Snow reported that when travelers from New Orleans got off at the Mandeville pier an electric trolley would take them to the front door of the Southern Hotel. He said the hotel “boasted caged monkeys and alligators, and a tropical garden with an artesian fountain, where tourists could sample Covington’s famous air and water without leaving their hotel.”

The Southern Hotel was intended to be a first-class resort to rival those on the East Coast and for a time, it succeeded. As Snow

The Covington Fire Department posing at the corner of Boston and Columbia streets.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 23

photo: COURTESY LEE ALEXIUS

Covington

While Covington’s turn-of-the-century boom arose partly out of the improved transportation, it was also a result of the efforts of the more industrious “come heres” of the time, many of whose names remain

members of the community, including current Covington city council member Lee Alexius.

Alexius expanded the brickyard’s operations and also farmed cotton and rice at various times, as well as raising livestock. The

from “Come Heres” to “Old Timers” familiar ones in the community today. These families established their own businesses, from growing agricultural products and processing lumber to brickmaking and banking, and were active in other important aspects of the life of the community. Although the nature of their businesses may have evolved over the years, “old timer” families such as these whose stories we tell briefly here provided a strong foundation and a stable continuity that has served Covington well.

area became known as “Alexiusville.” An ad Guido placed in the Farmer read: “Abita River Brick and Tile Works.

G.C. Alexius, Prop. Manufacturer and Wholesale Dealer in all kinds of lake brick, clay and sand. Alexiusville, Covington P.O., La.” The land was sold off in pieces over the years, with the largest parcel, 861 acres, sold to the Tulane University Primate Center in 1963.

The Alexius family

Above: The Alexius family home at Alexiusville.

24 I ns ide N orthside

Gabriel “Gib” Parker’s brickyard property on the Abita River went through other owners before being sold to Guido C. Alexius in 1887.

Guido and his descendants became important

The Poole family

Covingtonians of recent vintage associate the Poole family name with lumber products.

Although the Pooles have been a part of

Bicentennial supplying cool breezes, shade and the very ozone air that made Covington an in-demand resort town. Pine trees also provided the timber for building homes and boats. The shipping industry also relied on products made from pine sap, like tar and turpentine, whose manufacture was an important industry for Covington.

Mackie Pine Products was located where the St. Tammany Justice Center stands today.

A 1921 advertisement presented the company as “Manufacturers of steam distilled turpentine

It became Wallace Poole Livery and Sale Stable in 1909 after Wallace bought out other family members. Wallace was very active in the Covington community, having been elected mayor and alderman.

His son, Weldon Wallace Poole, founded Poole Lumber Company in 1945. The latest generation of the Poole family continues supplying St. Tammany with the materials to build the future.

and pine oils, rosin, navy pitch, kidney rosin oil and rosin paint oil. Dealers in kiln burnt pine tar and pine tar oils.”

Harry Warner’s father, John H. Warner, worked for Mackie Pine Products and owned its successor, Delta Pine Products. Harry worked for Delta for a time but the lack of virgin pine spelled the end of the business when he was 22 years old. While the pine products industry may have faded, Warner’s entrepreneurial spirit went on. His companies, P&W Industries, P&W Concrete and Parish Concrete have provided economic growth and many jobs for the region.

photo: COURTESY POOLE FAMILY

Covington’s commercial scene since the late 1800s, they were not one of the many families who sought their fortune cutting St. Tammany pine at that time.

The Poole Brothers Livery and Stable was located on New Hampshire Street, in the spot next to the ox-lot entrance that the St. Tammany Farmer’s office now occupies. Like a car rental business today, travelers departing the nearby train station could procure their local transportation at Poole Brothers, which also served as the local undertaker’s location.

The Warner family

The great pine forests surrounding Covington have provided well for its residents,

The original Poole family home built by Wallace Maury Poole on New Hampshire Street on the Bogue Falaya River.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 25

photo: COURTESY THE BLOSSMAN FAMILY

Covington

Warner’s father was very active in community service, and Warner has followed his father’s example. He was a founder of the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Foundation and is active in many organizations, including the Covington Food Bank.

The Blossman family

Above: Among entrepreneur

The railroads and the town’s healthy reputation brought the Blossman family to Covington. Richard Sampson Blossman was a bookkeeper for the Great Southern Lumber Company who had been sent to the northshore to audit the company sawmill. Family lore says he noticed the rusty gates of the cemetery in town. Contrasting that with the yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans at that time, he noted that, “No one’s died here in a long time,” and moved his wife and parents to the northshore.

Known as Fred, Richard’s son Alfred R. Blossman Sr., left school after the fifth grade to work as a paper boy, meeting the arriving trains from New Orleans twice a day. Fred parlayed his entrepreneurial spirit into a variety of business ventures over his lifetime, and his family members and descendants have left their mark all over the Covington area as lawyers, politicians, bankers and in real estate development.

Fred Blossman’s businesses was a

The Smith family

local gas service

Walk up the wooden steps at H. J. Smith & Sons Hardware on Columbia Street in Covington

company.

26 I ns ide N orthside

and meet the latest generation of Smiths to work in the business, which began in 1875. In the museum next to the hardware store, which is the original store building founded by Henry James Smith, J. Louis “Red” Smith will show you receipts from 1910 for wagon wheels and farm implements delivered by schooners that docked at the foot of Columbia Street.

While offering dry goods “at the lowest cash prices,” H. J. Smith also traded in cotton.

Farmers would haul their crop to Covington, where the Smiths would weigh the bales and barter with the farmer for groceries, equipment and other supplies. They would then store the bales and wait for the commodity’s price to rise before hauling the bales to the landing for shipment to the city.

The Planche family

Katie Planche Friedrichs was a descendant of one of the French-born immigrants who came to find success in Covington. She recalled that her grandfather left New Orleans for the northshore during the Civil War. “The family spoke Parisian French,” she said. “As a child, I can remember my parents and aunts abruptly switching to English when I entered the room.”

Her father, Maurice P. Planche, and his partner, “Boss” E.J. Frederick, opened the first icehouse in Covington in the early 1900s and owned the first Ford automobile dealership as well.

Friedrichs lived on land on the Bogue

photo: COURTESY ST. TAMMANY PARISH HOSPITAL

Bicentennial

Falaya River settled by her father, who was quite the entrepreneur, operating the water works and the electric company. He also brought a French baker to Covington. “Papa named his place Mill Bank Farm, after the sawmill on the river.” Kit Friedrichs-Baumann, along with her husband and son, now steward the family legacy on the Bogue Falaya.

The Core family and St. Tammany Parish Hospital

In 1988, during Covington’s 175th

anniversary, Norma Core recalled that the family of her husband, Archie Core, had been in the area since before 1800. The Schultzes, her mother’s family, came from Germany in the 1850s, and her father’s, the Depreists, came after the Civil War. Norma, who passed away in 1992, was one of the driving forces behind the Women’s Progressive Union of Covington’s eight-year effort to establish St. Tammany Parish Hospital. It opened on Dec. 1, 1954, as a 30-bed general hospital but has grown

Above: St. Tammany Parish Hospital photo: COURTESY THE ST. TAMMANY FARMER

opened its doors in December 1954.

Above: The St. Tammany Farmer office on North New Hampshire Street before its remodel in the 1970s.

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 27

Above: Covington High’s basketball team from the 1920s. Nicholas Seiler, on

with Covington. On the eve of its 50th anniversary, STPH is now a 237-bed hospital with 370 physicians and more than 1700 employees.

the right, was Beatrice Main’s grandfather. The

The Goodwyn family and

family owned the Seiler

The St. Tammany Farmer

Hotel at Columbia and Lockwood streets.

Believed to be the oldest continuously operating business in St. Tammany Parish,

The St. Tammany Farmer newspaper was founded in 1874. Carol Jahncke researched back issues of the St. Tammany Farmer and compiled the book, Mr. Kentzel’s Covington.

Kentzel was an early publisher of the paper, and Jahncke’s book tells how the editor would rally town folk behind projects he deemed important—a railroad, school, town hall, fire company and, especially, good roads and bridges.

Today, The St. Tammany Farmer is the official journal for St. Tammany Parish and publishes public notices required by various governmental agencies. It is published under the guidance of Karen Courtney, the third generation of the Goodwyn family, which has owned the paper since 1928.

The Farmer’s office stands at the site of the former Poole Brothers’ Livery Stable on New Hampshire Street.

photo: COURTESY BEATRICE MAIN

Covington

Bicentennial

photo: COURTESY H.J. SMITH & SONS

The retail merchants

If you say “shopping in Covington” to any long-time resident, it might bring up memories of a host of places not named “Walmart.”

There was Norman Haik’s store, last located at the corner of Boston and Columbia, that clothed generations of the city’s men, women and children; Frank Patecek and Ellis Haik, of another branch of the Haiks, were in the mercantile business as well. Right down Columbia Street, in what is now the St. Tammany Art Association Art House, was Nichols Toys; a long time before that, it was Bernard Barrere’s dry goods store.

Down Columbia and across the street, the Champagne family ran Champagne Grocery from 1919 until the late 1970s. Of course, there was always H.J. Smith and Sons. The stalwart store and museum embodies the history of the retail trade in Covington.

H.J. Smith and Sons store, a Covington icon with the Smith family as sole proprietors since 1876.

Covington

bicentennial events MAY

During the beginning of the 20th century, these families and the city’s other residents saw Covington through the Great Depression and two World Wars. In the second half of the century, the Causeway was the catalyst for a gradually increased population and the economic growth that followed. And in the twilight of its first 200 years, in 2005, the city survived the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to welcome many new residents who relocated here as a result of the storm—the latest “come heres” to add their flavor to our unique city.

In 1813, when Covington was officially founded, the small rural community was poised to grow into the bustling port it would become. In 1913, after its first 100 years, the city could again be optimistic about its future. Residents profited from the commercial boom that came with the railroads and the increase in schooner and steamer traffic—and the city enjoyed its growing reputation as a “resort area.”

Today, in 2013, we mark another 100-year milepost. There is little left of the rural economy of 1813; the trees have been harvested and the land is filled with homes and schools and shopping malls.

The railroads, schooners and steamers of 1913 that once made good on their great promise are gone. Automobiles and 18-wheelers using city streets and interstates have replaced the railroads and also the ships that used Lake Pontchartrain and the rivers as thoroughfares.

When Covington celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2113, what will that era’s “Inside Northside” say about Covington’s people in 2013? What are the factors that will be seen to have made that generation of residents optimistic, allowing the city to be poised for its next evolutionary step? Will other factors be seen as having had a negative impact?

Will it be the emerging I-10/I-12 economic corridor attracting new industries? Or the population growth, with its need for housing, schools, shopping and medical services? Will one particular industry take off—perhaps information technology? Might the growing cultural economy, arts community and the renovated Southern Hotel be the new incarnation of the “must visit” reputation the “resort years” enjoyed?

As we said at the end of the introduction, “Covington, your future is calling!”

a new beginning

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25 Reminiscing Covington’s Walker Percy.

Presented by Judge Frederick S. Ellis.

Fuhrmann Auditorium in the Greater Covington Center, 317 N. Jefferson Ave. 7-9pm. Cultural Arts and Events, 892-1873. covla.com.

27 Veterans Appreciation Reception. Bogue Falaya Hall in the Greater Covington Center, 317 N. Jefferson Ave. 11am-1pm. Free for veterans. Cultural Arts and Events, 892-1873. covla.com.

JUNE

3 Covington Bicentennial Golf Tournament.

Money Hill Golf & Country Club, 100 Country Club Dr., Abita Springs. 10am-5pm.

Individuals, $150; Teams of 4, $600. Glenn Hanson, 246-0230.

23 The History of the African-American Community in Covington. Presented by Dr. Eva Baham. Fuhrmann Auditorium in the Greater Covington Center, 317 N. Jefferson Ave. 4pm. Cultural Arts and Events, 892-1873. covla.com.

29 Bicentennial Parade. Downtown Covington. Noon. Cultural Arts and Events, 892-1873. covla.com.

29 Hemmings Motor News “Great Race.”

Motor sports enthusiasts racing from St. Paul, Minn. to Mobile, Ala. stop in Covington to show off their classic cars. Covington Trailhead, 419 N. New Hampshire St. 4:308:30pm. Cultural Arts and Events, 892-1873. covla.com; greatrace.com.

30 Classic Covington: Stories Behind The Prints. Presented by historian Howard Nichols and artist Suzanne King. St. Tammany Art Association, 320 N. Columbia St., Covington. 892-8650. sttammanyartassociation.org.

JULY

2 Bicentennial Prayer Breakfast. St. Paul’s School, Briggs Assembly Center 7am.

4 Bicentennial Four on the Fourth Race.

Four-mile state championship race Hubie Gallagher Park, 1000 West 15th Ave. 7:30am; kid’s race, 8:30am. goweiss@bellsouth.net.

4 Bicentennial Extravaganza. Live music, fireworks, games, food and more! Bogue Falaya Park, Covington. 4pm until dusk. covla.com.

Bicentennial

When cultural changes caused the decline in the popularity of Covington as a resort area, the Southern Hotel closed and was adapted for a variety of purposes, including being home to St. Tammany Parish’s administrative offices.

Luckily, the striking building was never demolished. It caught the eye of attorney Lisa Condrey Ward. “We moved here from New Orleans in 1999. I started talking about it, probably the day after we moved here, ‘Gosh, why hasn’t somebody turned that back into a hotel?’”

She now owns the hotel, and its rebirth is well underway, with an anticipated opening

to offer today’s visitors as the elements did at the turn of the century. “I want people to come here and enjoy things like the Tammany Trace—we’re going to have bikes available and kayaks for the river.”

Renovations include facilities that

new life for the Southern Hotel

images: COURTESY FRANK M. “RUSTY” BURNS

in the fall of 2013. Ward says, “It’s going to have 41 rooms and a restaurant on the New Hampshire corner. We’re looking for an exciting restaurateur to work with on the buildout.” Ward hopes her plans for the property spark as much interest in what the area has

Covington residents, as well as the hotel’s guests, will be able to take advantage of.

“We’re going to have a ballroom and space for business meetings.” Ward notes the building is in the shape of a “u” that opens onto the alley that runs from New Hampshire to Vermont.

“We’re going to close that in and have the ballroom and all those spaces spill out into a really beautiful courtyard. It will be a very nice party space. The hotel bar will be open to everyone, and that’s going to have access to the courtyard, too.”

Ward says, “I’m looking forward to a renaissance. Covington is already a great little town. My personal vision is to expand the types and diversity of businesses into something similar to what you would find on Magazine Street in New Orleans. If we put that together, get the movie theater open—and hopefully the hotel will be an ideal catalyst for that—it will become a really wonderful, pedestrian-friendly city that has a lot to offer.”

Co vi n gt o n B i c e n t e n n i a l 31

Left: Jayne, Joel, Jr., Joel, Jill and Julia Champagne. Below: A young Joel Champagne makes deliveries with his father.

Champagne Beverage Company

The TOTAL Beverage Distributor

No discussion of northshore business leadership would be complete without including Champagne Beverage Company and its 56-year history on the northshore. Under the leadership of Joel Champagne since 1996, the company has grown to an organization of 130 team members.

They are a recognized market leader and a real home-grown success story.

In 1957, Joseph and Audrey Champagne started the company with a new Anheuser-Busch franchise in Covington. “It was a one-man operation for the first year, but my father sold about 59,000 cases of Budweiser!” says Joel. Eventually, he began working at his father’s side. “On weekends

during high school and college, Joel began working with the company full time in 1981. With the help of many loyal managers and employees, Champagne Beverage sold 3.4 million cases of product last year. It is an accomplishment that makes Joel very proud of the team he leads.

One of the most valuable things Joel learned from his father was the importance of paying attention to detail. “He was my mentor, teaching me everything I know about this business,” says Joel. “Though times have changed, much remains the same.

The important things—being part of the community, meeting people and thanking customers for their

when I was little—8 years old—I was helping him deliver beer.” After working weekends and summers at the company

business—add up. That’s what this company is built on.”

As the second generation of Champagnes to run Champagne Beverage Company, Joel, Jill and their family are

proud to continue that service tradition begun by his parents. They have been able to take that concept to a whole new level. Champagne Beverage has become much more than a beer distributor... it is a TOTAL beverage distributor.

“Our product lines have undergone quite a bit of diversification,” says Joel. “In addition to beer, we now distribute soft drinks, teas, milk, waters, energy drinks, coffee, as well as wines and spirits.” The relationships the Champagnes have established with loyal customers over the years have made this diversification very successful.

Champagne has been responsive to many changes in the marketplace, including the slow but steady growth in popularity of craft beer over the past few years. This has driven an alignment with local and national craft beer producers, including Covington Brewhouse, Parish Brewing, Bayou Teche Brewing, Chafunkta Brewing, Tin Roof Brewing, Lazy Magnolia

Brewing, Saint Arnold Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Moylan’s Brewing and Goose Island Brewing. Other new offerings in the move toward a complete beverage distributorship include Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Woodchuck Cider, Nestle Waters, Arizona Teas, Nesquick, Exyience Energy, Real Tree Energy, Red Line Energy, PJ’s Coffee, Old New Orleans Rum, Pontchartrain Vineyards Wines, Jarvis Wines, Silver Ridge Wines, Zichichi Wines and many more.

When asked what his father would think of the Champagne Beverage Company today, Joel says, “He would be happy, to say the least. My father sold one brand of beer, Budweiser.

Today, we distribute more than 150 different brands of beer alone.

Anheuser-Busch continues to develop new brands to meet the ever-changing consumer needs. This, combined with our new suppliers, allows us a very diverse portfolio to offer our customers.

Yes... he would be impressed!”

Champagne Beverage is well positioned for future growth with its expanded product portfolio. Though Champagne Beverage’s market footprint has remained the same since its founding, Joel has also taken a big step into the New Orleans market with his partner, Mockler Beverage from Baton Rouge. This venture, Southern Eagle Sales and Services, has given them the chance to bring the talents and experience of those 56 years of success into the competitive New Orleans market. It has also given the Champagnes a new perspective.

Champagne Beverage has

approximately 1,000 accounts on the northshore and Southern Eagle has around 2,500 in New Orleans. The primary difference in the two endeavors is the impact of tourism on the business in the southshore market.

In 2012, New Orleans had more than nine million visitors to the city.

Working in a family business is challenging

strive day in and day out to be an outstanding corporate citizen. We love to support those who support us.”

Joel’s philosophy on work and the basis of what he hopes to pass on to the next

Above: Company founder Joseph Champagne.

Left: Joel Champagne and his son, Joel, Jr.

but can be very rewarding during exciting times of change and expansion. Joel and Jill have worked diligently to structure the company to provide opportunity to the next generation. Joel Jr. has been on board for three years and Jayne, who is getting married in August, plans to begin her career with the family business after her wedding. Julia has two years left at LSU but hopes are that she will join the company as well.

Continuing his father’s commitment to the community, Joel makes sure that everyone on the Champagne team understands the impact that commitment has to their success. “The community is our business partner,” he says. “We

generation of Champagne Beverage is rather simple: “Be dedicated to your job, have pride in everything you do, pay attention to detail, customer service is KING, work smart…and if you do all of that, celebrate with family and friends.”

Cheers!

Champagne Beverage serves five northshore parishes, including St. Tammany, Washington, Tangipahoa, Livingston and St. Helena parishes. Southern Eagle serves six parishes on the southshore, including Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. John and St. Charles parishes. Champagne Beverage is located at 1 Bud Place, Madisonville, 892-4814.

St. Tammany Parish Hospital has literally grown up with the Covington community.

In the mid-1900s, the northshore began its transition from

the same state-of-the-art techniques and technologies found at the best medical centers around the country. But what this hospital is known for, what patients, families and members of

a predominantly rural expanse to destination and lifestyle

the community

communities. The development of the Causeway generated the

write letters about,

migration that provided a steadily increasing population, and the

tell friends about,

need for adequate health services became a growing concern.

take pride in, is

On May 4, 1953, the Women’s Progressive Union of

the healing touch

Covington realized the fruits of its labor when an eight-

offered by a staff

year grassroots effort to raise awareness of the need for a

not hardened, but

parish hospital culminated in the groundbreaking for St.

allowed to care.

Tammany Parish Hospital in 1954.

“Our culture here is very personal, very caring,” says Patti Ellish, hospital president and CEO. “We can’t help but treat every patient like they are our family. We like to say that while the health care we deliver is high-tech, our people will always remain high-touch.”

The hospital’s legacy of caring relies upon the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, established in 2003, to sustain the healing work of STPH physicians and staff. Through

St. Tammany Parish Hospital From the Community. For the Community STPH has become a shining example of the area’s

development of philanthropic support, the foundation seeks to fortify the promise of world-class health care close to home for generations to come.

Harry Warner, a lifelong Covington resident and

progressive growth. The hospital has evolved from a small,

member of the foundation’s Board of Trustees, has seen

16-bed facility with two physicians and 18 employees to an award-

the hospital go from being a small hospital that cares to

winning 237-bed health system with more than 400 physicians

a large hospital that cares. He says, “I am proud to call

and 1700 employees in 10 locations, serving the inpatient and

Covington my home—and proud to call STPH my hospital.”

outpatient needs of Covington and surrounding areas.

This bicentennial year finds St. Tammany Parish

Today, STPH includes the main hospital, outpatient

Hospital embarking once again on an expansion project,

surgery center, diagnostic centers, women’s center, wound

one which will introduce specialized pediatric emergency

care clinic, home health, hospice, sleep disorders center,

care while expanding the size, capacity, expertise and

parenting center, community wellness center, primary

technology of the emergency department and increasing

care physician offices throughout the district and the

the number of private rooms inside the hospital.

comprehensive cancer center through its partnership with

In an industry that is ultimately about people, which

Mary Bird Perkins. The skybridge connecting the cancer

often gets lost in machinery and technology, in a small town

center to the hospital near Covington’s southern city limit

growing at a big-city pace, St. Tammany Parish Hospital

serves as a gateway to the city.

remains progressive and personal every step of the way.

Technology has forever changed our world and promises to continue to do so. Our very own “hometown hospital” embraces the pace of change in health care while its caregivers embrace the lives touched by it. STPH promises world-class

St. Tammany Parish Hospital is located at 1202 S. Tyler St.

health care and delivers on that promise by offering many of

in Covington, 898-4000. stph.org; sthfoundation.org.

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