First Parish Newspaper

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Triche House in Hahnville
The St. Charles-Herald was published at the Triche House in Hahnville from 1888 to 1954. The addition to the right of the house was added to prepare and publish the newspaper.

The first issue of the St. Charles Herald was dated February 15, 1873. It is understood that this newspaper was started and owned by ex-Governor Georg Michael Hahn. With a friend, Marsellus Vallas, Hahn opened an office on the corner of Hahn and Front streets in Hahnville.

The Herald was considered Hahn’s “mouthpiece” and was quick to include and defend his views during Reconstruction when he was constantly being criticized as a vocal Union activist. During the early years several people managed the newspaper and ownership changed several times after Hahn’s death in 1886. The Herald was purchased in 1888 by J. C. Triche and Company from T. T. Boudouin for $75.

Rear Elevation of the Triche House
Rear elevation of the Triche House with members of the Triche family in the foreground. Note attached kitchen to left and wooden cistern to right.

Triche served as secretary of the St. Charles Police Jury, as deputy clerk of court, and was appointed clerk of registration for St. Charles Parish for Governor Nicholls in 1890. Triche’s nephew, J. B. Martin, Jr., later ran The Herald for the family out of a small office in front of his home in Hahnville before he became superintendent of schools of St. Charles Parish.

He was never officially listed as editor. J. C. Triche, Jr., then took over but soon enlisted in the armed forces when World War I began. W. A. Brady then assumed temporary editorship. J. C. Triche, Sr., died while the younger Triche was at war in Europe. Immediately upon his return he took over management of The Herald, also working for Shell Oil Company in Norco. When Triche, Jr., married, his sister Polly assumed the role of editing but retained her brother’s name as official editor. When Polly married, sister Beatrice took over managing the paper. Lucien T. Triche, J. C. Triche, Sr.’s, other son, was listed as editor but was never active in that role. Beatrice kept The Herald alive for as long as possible.

Triches
Left to right top: Josepha Triche, Denise Triche, Philip, Middle: Josie, Beatrice Triche, Inez Vial, Sybille, J. C., Triche Sr., Bottom: Polymnia, Judith, Taft Triche, and Spot the dog. Missing – Clem Triche, Jr.

On August 19, 1954, 65 years after her father purchased The Herald, Beatrice Triche Troxler sold the newspaper to the Henry E. “Gene” Yoes, Jr., family. Gene’s journalism studies had been interrupted when he left LSU to enlist in the armed forces for four years during World War II. When discharged in 1946, he reentered LSU and received his bachelor of arts degree in journalism. The Herald was run as a family business with Iola Yoes serving as office manager, H. E. Yoes III as associate editor, Cynthia Yoes as graphic designer, and the remaining six Yoes children serving in one capacity or another.

Thirty-five years later his son, Patrick, and his wife Gail purchased the newspaper. It continued in operation until 1993 when a merger with the Louisiana Publishing Company’s St. Charles Guide, owned by the Lottinger family of Luling, took place to become the St. Charles Herald-Guide. Louisiana Publishing Company bought out the Yoes’s portion of the publication in 2006. The St. Charles Herald-Guide serves as the official journal of St. Charles Parish.

St. Charles Herald
Heading graphic of old St. Charles Herald press clipping.

This text is copyright © material by Marilyn Richoux, Joan Becnel and Suzanne Friloux, from St. Charles Parish, Louisiana: A Pictorial History, 2010.

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Further Reading

Supt. of St. Charles Martin Fetes Jubilee
Times-Picayune
J. B. Martin, superintendent of St. Charles Parish Public Schools from 1913 to 1944, is called “the Father of St. Charles Parish Schools.” Martin was born in 1881 and was the great-grandson of Jean Baptiste LaBranche. He attended local schools but finished high school in New Orleans and graduated from Louisiana State University. It has been said that many of the great advances made in education in St. Charles Parish can be attributed to the determination and conscientious work of its first professional superintendent, J. B. Martin. J. B. Martin Middle School in Paradis is named in his honor.

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