Do You Remember?
Dr. Patsy Barber
Do you remember going to Hotel Bentley? Did you go swimming at Magnolia beach? Did you attend the Fair when it was held at City Park ? On and on we can go, excited over the rapid response and description of much joy about events in/around Alexandria years ago. Friend Bobby Hynson has contributed to this column about the changing scene: In 1916, the voters in Alexandria were asked to approve a $30,000 bond issue for a public park, which passed with no objection. Subsequent acquisitions created today's City Park. Do you remember the original natatorium? Built about 1917, it was back of the current play ground near Bayou Hynson. In the late '30s, having served its purpose for thousands, it was filled in and became a huge lily pond. Do you remember the monster slide? "You earned a reputation for bravery when you went down that slide. The closest I got was climbing up the steps...never sliding down!" The original ball park was near Lee Street where the fire station is today. Central Louisiana is known for having outstanding baseball teams, and it was true then fostered by strong supporters. No city park was complete, then, without a band stand in the center for outdoor concerts. Before radios and television, this was the summer outing for stirring music. The auditorium, aka Red Barn, was a sizeable building holding 2,500 people. Multi-purpose, the seats removed created space for dances, parties, or skating rink. Natural ventilation was achieved by opening some of the walls. Popular bands of the day were here often. City Park's address today is Masonic Drive, named for the Masonic Home further out on the corner of Horseshoe Drive and Highway 165. However, it carried the name of Country Club Drive. Well, it was a main highway out of Alexandria. Bobby Hynson is eager to hear your stories and copy any old photos you have of City Park or other playgrounds around the City. These can be included in a little publication "00 you Remember?” Send them to the Alexandria Zoo or call 442-8629. During that decade in which City Park began, suburbia was in full swing in cities around the U.S. Thus, transportation into the city was mandatory for everyone wanted or owned an automobile. Passable roads were demanded by those drivers, so began the "Good Roads Movement." Through Alexandria, and by City Park, was the Jefferson Highway or Pines-to-Palms from Winnipeg, Canada, to New Orleans. To promote the continuity of this 2,000-mile roadway, caravans of autos often drove the entire distance. J. B. Clarkson became the General Manager promoting roads passable year round and worked indefatigably with local support and clout of the 250 communities. Establishing the exact location would consume the energies and flame the zeal of leaders and supporters as the most practical and direct route was the goal. Competition for routes was keen as selection was based on feasibility of road building with standardized methods and organized local interest. That Galveston, Biloxi and Gulfport all wanted the terminus shows the strong contenders away from Louisiana. Leaders in Shreveport designed a financial plan: $9 a mile through Caddo Parish, $170. The Natchitoches Parish plan approved a bond issue of $250,000 for the route from Sodus, also called Pleasant Hill, through Marthaville, Robeline, Natchitoches, Grand Ecore, Clarence, Luella to Saline Bayou on the Grant Parish line. Supporters in Grant paid membership fees and passed a bond of $150,000. The route from Colfax to Alexandria was so hotly contested that the Highway Engineer had to decide where it should go; plotting it through the hills to Iron Bridge on Rigolette Bayou near Bagdad, thence to Pineville, rather than through Boyce, which could have run entirely to the river bottom from Colfax to Alexandria. Work on gravelling soon stopped for funding; public-spirited J. H. McNeeley finished the stretch at his own expense, so intense was his interest in seeing completion and expanding the 40-foot right-of-way to 60 feet. Clarkson was on the road three out of four weeks promoting and arrived on Columbus Day, 1916, in Alexandria. He was met by an entourage at Camp Stafford and Main Street in Pineville; they stopped at Hotel Bentley for the gala welcome. Clarkson's colorful auto bore pennants of every city and town through which he traveled, some 250 of them. Leading professional and businessmen from surrounding communities joined him. A splendid banquet was held at the showplace of central Louisiana. Knowing the value of the tourism dollar, just as we do today, Clarkson urged, "...build a road tourists will buy over and over each year," proclaiming that a touring party drops not less than one dollar per hour for expenses. "This is the toll," he declared.
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