Julia Christina Elfer and Julia Louise Lockbaum Christina stand behind the bar of the St. Rose Tavern which was built around 1923 in the town of St. Rose.

Advertisement in the St. Charles Herald in 1875

On Sunday afternoons, enslaved people sometimes gathered for dances as a reprieve from the drudgery of work. Many of the dances were African in origin. The song above was sung at Good Hope Plantation in St. Charles Parish prior to the Civil War. Sung to a simple dance called the Coonjai, the music was furnished by a group of singers accompanied by performers on the barrel-head-drum, the jaw-bone and key, or another simple instrument. This and other songs from Good Hope Plantation are included in Slave Songs of the United States which was published in 1867.

The 1931 Shell Pets included (standing left to right) Eddie Lorio, Ray Cooper, Octave Ayme, George Bleakley, Charlie Oubre, Sr., (keeling) Robert Schexnayder, Jr., Albert Schexnayder, E. Lefty Verrett, John O. St. Amant, Lou Keller, Lawrence St. Amant, (sitting) Nick Sardegna, Donald Denoux, and Sam Duhe. Some other Shell employees believed that they were employed primarily because they were known to be good baseball players.

Nash Smith’s Social Club & Bar north of Norco (1938)

Majorettes from the Hahnville Colored School (circa 1950)

Lloyd Landry 1911

Hawkins’ Bar in Norco, LA – The Hawkins name is well known in Norco. Achille Hawkins was a justice of the peace in the 1870s and 1880s and a land owner in Norco in 1895, a time when it was difficult for black people to purchase property. In 1931, the Hawkins family sold property to the school system to build a school for black children.

Jack and Philip Generos in Happy Jack's Bar in Norco

Advertisement in the Good Hope News in 1930

West Bank Boy Scouts in the late 1940s

The Destrehan High School football team of 1948. Just two years prior, the team switched from a six-man team to an eleven-man team. As a six-man team, Destrehan High won its first state championship in 1941.

The 1946 Luling baseball team played in the Sugar Cane semi-professional league. Show in the picture above are:
Front row kneeling – Arthur “s” Gassen, Leonard Lauve, Sidney Eusea, Stanley “Bot” Champagne, Rene Hebert, Curtis “Blackie” Brown, Harold Robert, Irving “Bald Eagle” Tassin; Seated – Clyde “Rock” Gisclair (bat boy); Back row – Elson “Pim” Tassin, Onyx Bourgeois, Joseph Eusea, Ray Champagne, Eual “Mutty” Dubroca, Hubby Foret, Kenneth “Doc” Roberts, Roy Mongrue, Robert “Sailor Boy” Kinler

In the mid-1900s, St. Charles Parish had several movie theaters including the one on Paul Maillard Road in Luling.

1895 article from The Times-Picayune

The St. Rose School, built circa 1931, is now on property owned by IMTT and is used as a meeting
space for the company.

The Pan American Refinery in Destrehan and the New Orleans Refining Company (Shell) had schools for the children of their employes (circa early 1900s). Pictured (left) is the school for black children at the Pan Am Refinery and below is a picture of the school for white children at the Norco refinery.

Raymond K. Smith was the first black school administrator in St. Charles Parish. He was appointed as Supervisor for Negro Schools in 1942. He used the car pictured above to deliver library books to schools for black students since they did not have libraries.

The Paradis Consolidated School (circa 1912) was named Youngs School in honor of Hicks L. Youngs, a farmer who served on the school board beginning in 1877 and Luther Youngs, who was a medical doctor, editor of the Paradis Enterprise Weekly newspaper, and a school board member.

St. Rose School circa 1919

Luling School at the corner of Milling Ave. and Court St. (circa 1926)

Students at Luling School in 1929

In 1922, the owners of Waterford Plantation donated land and parents raised funds and secured a grant from the Rosenwald School Fund to build a school for black students in Killona. (Building on right in photo) A new school (shown under construction in 1962) replaced the 1922 structure. Neither building exists today.

In 1909, the school board consolidated the Norton and Keller Schools (near Norco) and created the Keller Consolidated School. This picture of the Norco Consolidated School was taken between 1913 and 1915.

Hahnville High School Graduating Class of 1938

When Hahnville High School was opened in 1924-1925, Austin Babin (first row, right) was the principal and Eual J. Landry (first row, left) was the assistant principal. Mr. Landry later served as principal of Hahnville High for many years.

Students at Hahnville Consolidated School in 1916 – Back row: Farrell Madere, Bertha Duhe, Viola Duhe, Cecile Durapau, Phelonice Friloux; Second row from top: George Cleveland, Marcel Faucheux, Edgar Falgout, Emile Keller, Corinne Keller, Felicie Keller; Kneeling: Edna Friloux, Evelyn Boudouin, Counsela Keller, Louise Keller; On the ground: Lillian Duhe, ? Champagne, Azelda Falgout, Bertha Rivarde. The teacher was Jeanne Keller.

Alexander Dimitry established the St. Charles Institute (shown above as Dimitry College) on the east bank of St. Charles Parish in 1842. At the time, a college was the same as a high school today. Mr. Dimitry became the first State Superintendent of Education in 1847 and is credited with organizing the state’s free school system.

Early 1930s graduating class from Destrehan High School – Front row: J. Richard Becnel, Lydia Guillot, Oscar Delaune, Josie Szubinski, Jessie J. Haydel, Rosemary Brady, Ulmann Schexnaydre; Middle row: Elizabeth Bartet, Andre’ J. Schexnaydre, Ethyl Lambert, Evans Lambert, Edith Kirtland, Guy Babin, Nelwyn Stebbins; Back row: Irving J. Rome, Leah Mae Haydel, Prof Poche, Isabelle Schexnaydre, Sam J. Vitrano, Gertrude Rome

Destrehan High School opened in 1924-1925. The faculty (circa 1931) included the following: Back row, left to right: Harry M. Hurst (later to become principal), Betsy Gross, Eugenie Cambre, Louise Vicknair, Emily Poche, Margaret Miestovich, Gladys Millet, Lydia Bougere, Principal J. N. Poche; Front row, left to right: Olga Jeanfreau (later to become principal after Harry M. Hurst), Hilda Perino, Louisa Seale, Nina Vial, Euna Andrews, Grace Brown

Students at the Comardelle Village School

George Washington Carver High School (opened in 1952) in Hahnville was built for black students
on the west bank of the parish.

Buses lined up outside of Hahnville High School – When the school district began to provide buses in the early 1900s many of the drivers were high school students, and each bus had a student flagman who would stand in the road to stop oncoming vehicles when students were entering or exiting the bus.

Boutte School (1918)

Bethune High School opened in 1952 in Norco to serve black students. Prior to that time, St. Charles Parish did not have a high school on the east bank for black students.

Allemands School in Des Allemands in 1942 – Note the water cistern (round structure on right side of picture) that provided drinking water for students and staff.

Alexander Dimitry

Aerial view of Hahnville High School – Note the principal’s house and the teacherage on the upper left side of the picture. Single teachers living in the teacherage could not go out on weeknights, have visitors past 10:00 p.m., or have their lights on past 11:00 p.m.

This school was built in Hahnville in 1875 on land donated by Michael Hahn. Hahn, a resident of Hahnville, served as Governor of Union controlled parishes in Louisiana in 1864-1865.

Locations of schools established on St. Charles parish plantations by the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865. Note the names of the teachers, their monthly salaries, and the number of students taught by each.

Destrehan High School in 1924

In 1925, "The Tom" was one of the boats used to deliver goods up and down the river.

Advertisements from the 1930 Good Hope News

Excerpt from the St. Charles Herald in 1877. Although the St. Charles Herald was the only paper published in the parish at that time, several other newspapers were printed for a short time over the years, including Good Hope News, Paradis Enterprise, and St. Charles Republican Pioneer.

The Smith Grocery and home is unlike most Louisiana architecture. This is because it was built around 1870, when St. Charles parish was overrun by northern carpetbaggers. The structure is not distinctly French Acadian but reminds one of an old southwestern town. Photo by H.E. Yoes, III

The Katz Store in Hahnville was in operation in the 1800s. The building in the middle of the picture above was the Stein Store which was built around 1870. It later became Smith’s Grocery but has been closed for many years. One of the oldest buildings in Hahnville, Smith’s Grocery was last operated by Leonard Smith.

There was also a Richard’s Dept. Store in Norco on the corner of River Road and Apple St.

Richard’s Department Store opened on the corner of Paul Maillard Rd. and River Road in Luling in 1953.

Price Furniture & Appliance was on Paul Maillard Road in Luling.

Mrs. Wilfred Zeringue (pictured on left) of Ama was the winner of an electric range during an appreciation sale at the store in 1953. On the right are Percy Price, owner of the store, and his wife Lena Price.

Mr. and Mrs. Portera stand on the porch of their grocery store in St. Rose in 1923 as Sam and Cush stand next to their new delivery trucks.

Paradis in 1952

Advertisements from the 1930 Good Hope News

Norco in 1952

1938 photo of the interior of Maloney Dufrene’s Grocery in Des Allemands – Pictured from left to right: a traveling salesman, Eldon St. Amant, Lucien Rodrigue, Herbert Savoie, Raymond Dufrene, Felix Dufrene

Luling-Hahnville Bank in Norco (1952)

Luling-Hahnville Bank in Luling (established in the early 1920s and pictured in 1952)

Lousteau Auto Sales opened in Norco in the early 1930s.

Is an advertisement from Le Meschacebe, a newspaper published in Lucy, LA. (1909).

The Landeche Brothers (Thomas, Henry, Lezin) of Killona also owned Mary Plantation in the early 1900s.

The Katz Store (above left) in Hahnville was in operation in the 1800s. The building in the middle of the picture above was the Stein Store which was built around 1870. It later became Smith’s Grocery but has been closed for many years. One of the oldest buildings in Hahnville, Smith’s Grocery was last operated by Leonard Smith.

The Hirsch Store and post office on River Road in Ama

Advertisements from the 1930 Good Hope News

Edmond Gourgues, from Hahnville, delivers bread to Paul Lorio’s grocery in 1920

Good Hope State Bank in 1930

Good Hope in 1948

Frances Lorio operated the Haydel Store in Taft

Des Allemands in 1952

Claude Guillot II standing on the levee in front of Prospect Street with the Good Hope Hotel on the left of the picture and Hall’s Pharmacy and Sam Tridico’s Bar on the right.

Advertisement for State Bank of St. Rose

Bank of St. Charles (1955)

1877 advertisements in the St. Charles Herald

1875 advertisements in the St. Charles Herald

Madere’s Garage opened in Hahnville around 1924.

John Lambert purchased the land where this house was constructed in 1891.

Housing development at Shell’s Norco Refinery (1948)

Pierre and Edna Dufrene on their houseboat headed to trapping grounds in Lake Salvador.

Home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hebert in Luling

1894 photo of home built by Ulysee Haydel in Hahnville. Located next to Home Place Plantation, this was known as Caneland Plantation.

Ellington Plantation was owned by F. A. Luling for whom the town of Luling is named. The home had two cisterns to provide running water on both the first and second floors.

Elie Duhe House in Hahnville

Mr. and Mrs. John Chistian in front of the Bayou Gauche Hotel

Home for enslaved workers at Barbarra (La Branche) Plantation built around 1825

St. Charles Herald, 1941

Houses in Destrehan for enslaved and free workers Note Mexican Petroleum’s oil storage tank on left of picture

This home, once located where LA Hwy. 3160 now intersects LA Hwy. 18 in Hahnville, was the home of L. Robert Rivarde of the 24th Judicial District. From 1924 – 1954, Rivarde served as a district judge for St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and Jefferson Parishes. Several public buildings in Jefferson Parish are named in his honor.

View of Prospect Plantation from the back – The planation home was located near the present-day sheriff’s sub-station in New Sarpy and demolished in 1927 as part of levee improvements.

The C. Perilloux House in Taft was covered in snow in January of 1958. Note the water cistern on the right. This house was moved a few hundred yards and named the Dorvin or Rosedon House. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the early 1900s, Julius Funk, an investor from Illinois, developed plans for a model community in Paradis.

Following the Civil War, many plantation owners were destitute. Many large homes were demolished due to lack of upkeep, fire, levee setbacks, and weather damage. For example, the main house (pictured above) at Mary Plantation in Killona was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965.

The rectory at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Taft and Father Andrew Schorr who served as pastor for 33 years (until 1960).

The world’s largest oak tree, the Locke Breaux Oak, was located at Colonial Dairy. It was believed to have sprouted in 1657, but the 400 year old tree died in the 1960s possibly due to age and industrial pollution.

A St. Charles Parish farmer and a government representative inspecting the corn crop in 1936

Andre Zeringue with his cabbage harvest

Whether done by enslaved or free workers, the growing and harvesting of sugarcane in St. Charles depended on the physical strength of men, women, mules, and oxen for more than 100 years. One of the first cane loaders was invented and sold in Killona. Notice, however, that the wagon was still pulled by mules. This advertisement was placed in the Louisiana Planters and Sugar Manufacturer’s Journal in 1906.

In 1846, Norbert Rillieux, a free man of color, paved the way for the safer production of sugar with his invention of the Multiple Effect Evaporator under Vacuum. His invention replaced the open kettles of boiling cane juice that had been previously used at Destrehan Plantation and other plantations to make raw sugar and molasses.

Threshing White Dutch Clover in St. Charles Parish (1936)

Local members of Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Oops Long Chapter, started on November 10, 1940, by Mrs. Loretta Brehm of Newcomb College in New Orleans, La. The ladies here are Leticia Brady from St. James, Hilda Fayard from St. Charles, Leeson from Plaquemine, Marie from St. Charles, Amy Brady from St. James, Alice Schmidt from St. Charles, Margaret Dufrene from St. Charles, and Marie Dufrene from St.Charles. The Bradys, Gleason, and Labry were all original members of the organization.

Thousands of wooden pilings were driven to provide a solid foundation for the spillway structure.

Building constructed to house German prisoners of war near the courthouse in Hahnville during World War II – St. Charles was one of several sites in Louisiana used to house prisoners who had been captured in North Africa.