If you tear it down, they won't come

Got another reminder today of that nasty habit Minden had of tearing historic structures down. I know that's always a controversial topic and at least one person who likes to pull my chain will probably post a sarcastic comment because in one recent high profile situation I was in favor of something being torn down. But as I said, I'll just need to learn to let folks comment and not try to engage when there's no point in replying.

Monday night at the Night for the Museum program about the Campbell family, Thad Andress asked me if I had ever been to Washington, Arkansas. Thad had visited recently and thought I needed to visit and also had a question relating to Minden history that learning about Washington had created in his mind. Now normally when Thad recommends a place to visit he has just returned from Greece, South America, Alaska or perhaps Jupiter -- places my pocket book will never allow me to visit. So, when he recommended a place I could afford to visit, I decided the trip has added to my itinerary. Plus, I was a little ashamed, particularly after I realized how close it was to home, that I hadn't visited.

So when I got out of classes today I set out for Old Washington. If possible I prefer to stay off the Interstate so you can see (stealing a line from Sarah Palin) the "real America." I did that today driving up La. 3 on to Arkansas 29 through my grandparents old stomping grounds of Lafayette County. Arriving in Washington I checked out some of the buildings and also purchased a book that answered the question Thad had posed. For many years I have explored all the historic figures that came close by Minden traveling on Military Road #11, cut through the North Louisiana wilderness in 1827 - 1828 between Fort Jesup and Fort Towson in what later became the Indian Territory.  Without a specific citation to prove the point, I am certain that future Presidents Zachary Taylor and Ulysses S. Grant traveled the road during their times at Jesup. I can verify that Col. George Armstrong Custer passed by when he was reassigned from occupation duty in Alexandria to fight the Indians on the Great Plains. (I'm not certain, but I don't think that turned out so well.) However, I had never considered the question that Thad raised. At Washington he had learned of a road connecting Fort Jesup to Washington and also found that Washington served as a main dispersion point for that tragic episode known as the Trail of Tears. I was so excited by the possibility that Thad had uncovered a place of Webster Parish in a significant era of American history when he asked, "did the Trail of Tears include the Military Road near Minden."

Today I discovered that it was "close but no cigar." The Trail of Tears, at least part of it, did come through Louisiana, in fact through Monroe. However, it turned north at Monroe and intersected "our" Military Road at Camden, Arkansas, so those Indians making the sad journey did reach Washington by the road that came by Minden, but did not traverse today's Webster Parish on the journey.

Now, in the words of Ron White, "I told you that story to tell you this one", which will explain my title. Today I visited the Hempstead County Courthouse built in 1836, it also served as the seat of government for Confederate Arkansas. Then I went to the Visitor's Center at Old Washington State Park, which is the Hempstead Country Courthouse that was used from 1874 - 1939. I was in such a rush to find the answer to Thad's question that my "light bulb moment" didn't hit me until after I had found my answer and was exploring the old courthouse. Something about that date, 1874, stuck in my mind. Then, as I was looking at the upstairs courtroom, it hit me. The first Webster Parish Courthouse that stood roughly on the site of today's Capitol One Bank downtown, was also completed and put into use in 1874. That meant that while Hempstead County still had both its 1836 and 1874 courthouses, Minden was in a completely different situation. The courthouse we built in 1874, the same year as the "new" Washington courthouse, was torn down in 1905. The building that replaced it, was torn down in 1970. So while that 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse stood "witness" Webster Parish built and destroyed two courthouses. As I stepped outside I suddenly realized something else, the 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse (pictured below) while not identical, resembles the 1874 Webster Parish Courthouse enough to be a "cousin." Hindsight is 20-20 and I don't think folks in Minden had evil motives, but it's a shame so much of our history died with the wrecking ball.