Thursday, August 30, 2018

Night At The Museum The Grigsby Family Oct 8, 2018


The Grigsby Family in Webster Parish History

 
Don't miss it!

Monday, October 8, 2018, a history of the Grigsby family in Webster Parish will be presented at the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum.   Randy Grigsby will be speaking on his family beginning with John Grigsby, the first Grigsby to arrive in America in 1660. The presentation will focus on interesting facts linking family members who served at the Alamo, later arrived and settled in Minden, fought and died at the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War, and experienced the heartbreak of the Second World War. The talk will conclude with personal memories of being raised in Minden in the 1950s and 1960s.

Don't miss your chance to hear about some of our local history. The museum events will be held in the Media/Learning center at the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, 116 Pearl Street, Minden, La.  Museum doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with first-come, first-serve seating.  Program begins at 6:00 p.m. Admission is free with potluck desserts and snacks welcome. 

For more information contact Schelley Brown Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit www.museuminminden.blogspot.com to sign up for the museum email blast. You can also find the museum on Facebook. To learn more about Webster Parish's rich history visit the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum located at 116 Pearl Street in Minden. Museum hours; closed on Monday, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed from 1-2 for lunch), Saturday CLOSED. The museum admission is free. Also open for special tours and rental by appointment.

 

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Ten Years And Counting


TEN YEARS OF SHARING OUR RICH HISTORY

The annual fundraiser Gala is fast approaching its September 10th, 2018 date.  This evening consist of a silent auction with heavy hors devours.  Cost is $25 prepay and $30 at the door the day of event.  “It is a great way to highlight your business by helping the museum with a silent auction item.  These items can consist of gift baskets, gift certificates, art work, handmade items, services such as lawn work, haircuts, facials, tire rotations, cakes, cookies, you name it we have had it at the our fundraisers,” states museum director Schelley Francis. 

This year the Dorcheat Historical Museum is celebrating its Tenth Anniversary of sharing Webster Parish history at 116 Pearl Street.  In 2007 work began to push forward with a museum that could stand the test of time.  Schelley Brown Francis was hired to raise awareness of why Webster Parish needed a museum.  Up to this point of the 30 plus years of existence, the Dorcheat Historical Association had never had a full time employee.  Volunteer efforts had tried for many years to establish a museum.  The use of buildings around Minden had been donated to house artifacts over the years with various reasons of not working out.  A building was finally acquired on Pearl Street.  During the years before 2007 this location was used for various things that housed a bit of museum related items.  Then it became a vacant building in need of much repair and work. 

Museum director Schelley Francis stated, “The agreement when I was hired was that I had one year to raise awareness and funds to get a museum off the ground.  I worked from home on a computer I had won at the St. Jude auction.  I had some success with the Minden Cemetery Ghost Walks that John Agan and I had worked on together.  I lived in the Minden Historic Residential District and served as president for a good many years.  It all tied together for me, the museum, the homes, and the cemetery….. it is all about our rich and fascinating history.  John Agan and I have worked closely on so many projects.  I felt with his mind for history and my promotion and sales experience we would be able to share and work on lots of historic related projects to get a museum going in full swing.”

The first programs for the museum that really showed off our area were the “Nights for the Museum” speaker series.  Before the museum opened these were held downtown in another building on Main Street.  Later when the back room of the museum was completed the name changed and the “Nights at the Museum” began.  Since its inception in 2008 the museum has had 62 speaker programs.  All of these have been recorded onto DVD by volunteer Phil Demaline.  “So much history has been captured on these DVDs that we can offer a glimpse into the past for many years to come.” stated Francis.  

Today the museum is enjoyed by visitors far and wide.  From classroom fieldtrips, travel bus tours, red hat ladies, churches, scouting, and retirement center groups we have had thousands of visitors in the last 10 years.  What people see today including the building that we were able to purchase next door is roughly $500,000 spent. That includes the purchase of the buildings, the renovation, the inside construction and exhibit work as well as the new roofs and heat and air units.  Schelley commented, “We pay as we go! We will never jeopardize what has been built by over spending on future project.  Thad Andress and Marcus Wren were driving forces behind the museum succeeding.  They were determined to leave a legacy of not only their family history but everyone else’s too.  We have had a great working board all along the way since 2007.”

Today board members included the following people; Louise Snook as President, Marcel Vandenoord as Vice-President, Janet LaBruyere as Treasurer, Ann Harlan as recording secretary, John Agan Webster Parish Historian, Eddie Hammontree Museum archivist, Charlotte Martin, Richard Campbell, Cora Lou Robinson Dr. Roy G. Phillips, Becky Marvin, Janice Mourad, Kay Elzen, Ben Baldwin, Dianne McGuire, Jo McCullough, Charlotte Jones, Mary Ann Hamilton, Lucy Adkins, Rachel Miller.   

Museum hours are Tuesday – Friday 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. closed from 1-2 for lunch then open from 2:00 P.M. – 4 P.M. also opened on Saturday for group tours that are arranged by appointment at least one week prior.  For more information or if you would like to donate something please contact Schelley Francis at 318-423-0192. 


 

Museum Gala Fundraiser 2018


You Are Invited To Ten Years Of Making History Happen

 

      Monday, September 10th, 2018, 6:00 P.M. the Dorcheat Historical Museum will be hosting its 10th fundraising event since the 2008 opening of the parish museum. Last year the fundraiser was a huge success, and raised over $30,000.  Many locals attend this event each year, knowing how important the preservation of our history is to Webster Parish and the state of Louisiana.

 





      Louise Baird Snook, Dorcheat Museum President, complimented the following board members; Becky Marvin, Janice Mourad, Cora Lou Robinson, Kay Elzen, Janet LaBruyere, Ann Harlan, Charlotte Martin, Dianne McGuire, Jo McCullough, Charlotte Jones, Mary Ann Hamilton, Lucy Adkins, and Rachel Miller.  All these ladies are museum board members and the female driving force behind the gala as well as the museum.  Not to be forgotten, for all their hard word to make everything run smoothly and the man power behind the museum are fellow board members; Marcel Vandenoord, Richard Campbell, John Agan, Dr. Roy Phillips, and Ben Baldwin.  These event organizers report that the 2018 fundraiser promises to be as exceptional as the past museum events, with the "TEN YEAR CELEBRATION" theme set for this year.

 

     Museum board members commented, “We can’t have a successful event or a successful museum without the help from local businesses and individuals.”  If you would like to donate an item or a gift certificate to highlight your business as well as help the museum please contact Schelley Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit at 116 Pearl Street.  Items will be taken until September 5th, 2018.   In the past a wide variety of items were on hand to place bids on. Original artwork from local artists, cakes from area cooks, diamond rings, dinners from area restaurants as well as some very special one of a kind items are just a few of the things we hope to have. "We are so fortunate to have the support of so many people from far and wide. We are pleased with our progress and we know we couldn't do any of it without so many generous friends and supporters of the museum." stated museum director; Schelley Brown Francis.   

 

     Cost to attend is $25 per person before September 10th and $30 at the door.  Please mail in your response by September 1st, 2018 or drop off before the 10th.  If you are unable to attend and would still like to donate please do so.  Every little bit helps this 501c3 nonprofit organization to continue the works that they do.  The museum now has a stock donation option available through Ty Pendergrass’s Argent Financial office.   You can contact them at 318-377-4262 with questions about this option. 

 

     Museum director Schelley Francis and museum archivist Mrs. Eddie Hammontree have worked hard this year to catalog and create a few new exhibits as well as John Agan’s continuous work on creating books that highlight history of our area.  Schelley commented, “The museum has had hundreds of visitors this past year from all over the country and overseas as well. The Dorcheat Historical Museum is a showplace for our area and especially our school children, church groups, senior adults and visitors to our area.  The museum has even been a place for other museum officials to gather advice and knowledge for their own museums.  Preserving and remembering the past is so important to a community.  I hope the people of our area never lose sight of this.”

 

     Holding on to what we have built up since 2007 is the most important thing. We have many people to be thankful for in this process.  A museum is a living thing.  There will always be new and better ways to improve what we have now.  There will always be new items and history to unveil.  Every day more and more people are finding out about us.  Social media has opened up the world to us and we try to take advantage of those resources. 

 

      We still have many dreams for the future.  We are confident that our expansion project is something that will take place one day.  Money was raised to purchase the building in 2013.  A new roof and front were completed, as well as some items on the inside of this newest building.  We will treat this project as we did our original building project.  “We pay as we go” has always been our motto.  Plans for any renovations and upgrading of this building will take place as money is specifically raised for this long-term project. 

   

     The Media/Theater room gives the museum an extra advantage of being able to offer the facility to others. We can now rent this part of the museum out for meetings, reunions and parties, plus we have the added benefit of the theater system for Power Point or video presentations."

 

     To sign up for updates visit the website at www.museuminminden.blogspot.com  you can also find us on our Facebook group and page.

  

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

From Minden TO The NBA...by Jenny Moreland Kennon


“From Minden to the NBA”

Stories of MHS 1956 Graduate & Basketball Great Jackie Moreland

 

Don't Miss It
Monday, May 14th, 2018, Jenny Moreland Kennon, a 1957 MHS graduate, will be the 62nd speaker for the Dorcheat Museum’s “Night at the Museum” speaker series.  Mrs. Kennon will be speaking on her memories of her late husband Jackie Moreland.  She will be speaking about his life as a ballplayer at Minden High School during the 1950s, then his years at LA Tech and finally the NBA Detroit Pistons and ABA New Orleans Buccaneers era. 

Don't miss your chance to hear about some of our local history. The museum events will be held in the Media/Learning center at the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, 116 Pearl Street, Minden, La.  Museum doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with first-come, first-serve seating.  Program begins at 6:00 p.m. Admission is free with potluck desserts and snacks welcome. 

For more information contact Schelley Brown Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit www.museuminminden.blogspot.com to sign up for the museum email blast. You can also find the museum on Facebook. To learn more about Webster Parish's rich history visit the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum located at 116 Pearl Street in Minden. Museum hours; closed on Monday, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed from 1-2 for lunch), Saturday CLOSED. The museum admission is free. Also open for special tours and rental by appointment.

Friday, February 23, 2018

April 9th, 2018 Harol Turner Thompson Memories of Turner's Boarding House

Tales from Turner’s Boarding House and So Much More!
With Mrs. Harol Turner Thompson
Monday, April 9th, 2018, Mrs. Harol Turner Thompson, a 1954 Minden High graduate, will be the April “Night for the Museum” speaker.  This will be the 61st oral history program for the Dorcheat Museum and the 68th museum event for Dorcheat Museum since 2007.
If you lived in Minden from 1934 until 1978 you remember sharing meals at Turner’s Boarding house on the corner of Fort and Sullivan Street.  Come listen to Harol Turner Thompson daughter of Happy Turner and Hazell Adkins Turner, as she remembers her parents and grandparents.   
Don't miss your chance to hear about some of our local history. The museum events will be held in the Media/Learning center at the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, 116 Pearl Street, Minden, La.  Museum doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with first-come, first-serve seating.  Program begins at 6:00 p.m. Admission is free with potluck desserts and snacks welcome. 
For more information contact Schelley Brown Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit www.museuminminden.blogspot.com to sign up for the museum email blast. You can also find the museum on Facebook. To learn more about Webster Parish's rich history visit the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum located at 116 Pearl Street in Minden. Museum hours; closed on Monday, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed from 1-2 for lunch), Saturday CLOSED. The museum admission is free. Also open for special tours and rental by appointment.
 


March 12th, 2018 Dr. Billy Jack Talton


“From Minden to the Ark-LA-Tex Sports Museum Hall of Fame”

1958 Minden High Graduate Dr. Billy Jack Talton

 

Monday, March 12th, 2018, Dr. Billy Jack Talton will tell the story of his career path that would eventually lead him to his induction into the Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum Hall of Fame.  This will be the 60th oral history program for the Dorcheat Museum and the 67th museum event for Dorcheat Museum since 2007.

The 1958 Minden High graduate and former Louisiana Tech powerlifting coach Dr. Billy Jack Talton, became known as the father of LHSAA powerlifting, 2014—Inductee into Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum Hall of Fame, 2015—Inaugural inductee into USAPL Louisiana Hall of Fame. 

"I feel more like a representative of a lesser known sport, and it's a little bit stressful to go through all the steps necessary to accomplish this," said Talton, who lives on a 50-acre farm with wife Carolyn and their Tennessee walking horses. "My motivation for getting into powerlifting was to refine the abilities of football players as they prepared for a season."

Talton, who retired in 2001 as the chairman of Louisiana Tech's Health and Physical Education Department, is credited with being the father of Louisiana high school powerlifting. Still active officiating prep meets, Talton built LA Tech into a national powerlifting power during his 27-year tenure as a collegiate coach. His men's and women's lifting teams won 11 national championships apiece in a sport that continues to grow in popularity.

Don't miss your chance to hear about some of our local history. The museum events will be held in the Media/Learning center at the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, 116 Pearl Street, Minden, La.  Museum doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with first-come, first-serve seating.  Program begins at 6:00 p.m. Admission is free with potluck desserts and snacks welcome. 

For more information contact Schelley Brown Francis at 318-377-3002 or visit www.museuminminden.blogspot.com to sign up for the museum email blast. You can also find the museum on Facebook. To learn more about Webster Parish's rich history visit the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum located at 116 Pearl Street in Minden. Museum hours; closed on Monday, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed from 1-2 for lunch), Saturday CLOSED. The museum admission is free. Also open for special tours and rental by appointment.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Andress and Minden History go Hand in Hand


Miller Andress, Joan Andress Williamson and Thad Andress at the Dorcheat Museum 
Tuesday night, I lost a friend and encourager, but so did the city of Minden with the death of Thad Andress. For me, Thad was always like a member of the extended family. My father went to work for Thad’s father, Harry, at Andress Motors in 1936, when Daddy was 18. My mother, went to work for Mr. Andress in 1940, when she was 17. Thad was a little boy when the joined the business family and they watched as Thad his brother Miller and his sister Joan grew up.  In 1948, when my parents married, Harry Andress gave away my mother at the wedding as my grandfather had died when she was three in 1926. So, the Andresses were always a part of my life. However, if you lived in Minden, they were also a part of yours. Preparing for this article, I did a search of the online archives of the Minden newspapers. Between 1932 and 2016 Thad’s name alone – not including the mentions of his family including his father’s years of service in business and government – appeared in 920 separate editions of the local newspaper. If you kept up with what was happening in Minden, and who was helping things happen, you knew the name.



Thad was born in Minden in 1932 as a descendant of a pioneer Minden family. His great grandfather, Christopher Chaffe, immigrated to Minden in 1853 from his native England to join his brother John Chaffe who had come to Minden earlier. Chris was a blacksmith and a very good one, but soon his activities expanded into all areas and he became one of the community leaders of Minden. Among other enterprises he operated the stagecoach line that ran across North Louisiana and had the mail contract for delivery to most of that territory. He touched all areas of local life, in fact, Carleton Prothro used to jokingly ask Thad if anything in Minden couldn’t be traced back to the Chaffes, I’m not sure if it doesn’t all go back to the Chaffes. Much of that history is outlined in a delightful book Thad put together of his mother’s memories titled “When I Was a Little Girl, And After, Too.” Treeby Chaffee, was the youngest child of Christopher and Jane Farley Chaffe, born in 1865. In 1893, she married Robert Hyneman Miller, who came to Minden in 1890 to serve as cashier of the new Bank of Minden. R. H. and Treeby Miller had five children, the youngest, born in 1903 was named Treeby, after her mother. Treeby was a graduate of Minden High School, and Newcomb College. She returned to Minden where she taught at Minden High School and in 1931 she married Harry Carter Andress, who had come to Minden to operate the Ford dealership opened by his brother Redden Thaddeus Andress. The Andresses would make Minden their home until their deaths in 1976, Treeby, and 1980, Harry. Thad was the first child born to their union, followed by his brother Miller and his sister, Joan.



Again, relying on the newspapers, Thad had a busy and happy childhood, his name appearing in various organizations and meetings beginning with his service as the scepter bearer at the Minden Mardi Gras at age two in 1935, when his father was King of Mardi Gras. Thad graduated from Minden High School as the valedictorian of the MHS class of 1950 and went on to further his education at Sewanee: The University of the South where he graduated with a B.A. in 1954. Uncle Sam then called him to serve in the US Army for two years. After discharge, Thad enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Harvard University after graduating from Harvard, he returned to Minden to help run the family auto dealership and immediately became actively involved in civic affairs. In September 1959, Thad married Sarah Elizabeth (Sally) Tatum of Homer.  Thad and Sally would be married for nearly 42 years until her death in 2001. To their union were born four children, Weston, Elizabeth, Laura and Collier. After Sally’s death Thad married Oneta Hancock and added her two children, Kendall and Allyson to his family.



I mentioned the count of newspaper articles for a reason. I had planned to enumerate Thad’s positions of service in Minden, but I soon realized it would be an easier task to list any projects or causes in which Thad did not participate. Not sure there are any. He was particularly active in the local Jaycees and later the Chamber of Commerce, serving as the leader of both organizations and heading major committees and projects of the Chamber for over a half-century. In 1969, when Thad received the Distinguished Service Award from the Minden Jaycees they listed over twenty local civic groups in which he had filled a leadership role. After Andress Motors closed in 1965, Thad became the manager of the insurance firm founded by his grandfather in 1890, the R. H. Miller Insurance Agency, in this new job, his civic involvement only increased. He played an instrumental role in the first incarnation of the Dorcheat Historical Association in 1975 (more about that later.) I would be remiss to not mention all the work Thad did for his church, St. John’s Episcopal, that his ancestors helped found. He served at the local and regional level in many positions of leadership and I would often drive by St. John’s after slipping out of First Baptist Sunday School and see him greeting folks outside the service. Thad’s attitude was to always try and make our community a better place to live and give his all to make that happen. In 1994, when he was honored by the Minden Lions Club as Minden’s Man of the Year, he expressed it this way: “It is with extreme pleasure I accept this award, it’s great to join a long list of those who try to do good things for Minden. It’s great to be in a place where you can call on people, Minden is a great place to be.” Yes, Minden is a great place to be and Thad Andress played a major role in making it a great place.



As an adult, my connection with Thad came largely through two projects to which he devoted his time. One was the board of the Minden Cemetery Association. Thad got me involved in the organization and he was always looking out for the best interests of the organization. He left it in the capable hands of Ty Pendergrass, but Thad was willing to do anything to help preserve the cemetery.

He even went so far as doing something I wouldn’t touch “with a ten-foot pole.” In 2007, he portrayed his grandfather, R. H. Miller in our annual Ghost Walk. Most of my work with Thad came in another project, the one I consider his “crowning achievement” the resurrection of the Dorcheat Historical Association and the creation of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum. After its founding in 1975, the Association foundered and was largely non-existent by the middle 1990s when some local people, including George Turner, Richard Campbell and others began to attempt to revive the group. We set up a fledgling museum in the old Crichton Hardware building, but we just couldn’t seem to get over the hump. Early in the 2000s, Thad assumed leadership of the Association and with his driving influence things began to change. He began an aggressive fund-raising approach and strove to make the Association a thriving group and move toward the establishment of a first-class museum. In 2007, he took bold steps toward the creation of that museum by steering the group to hire a full-time director to head the museum project and chose fellow history-lover Schelley Brown Francis for the job. Together they worked with the help of the design genius of Larry Milford to create the wonderful museum we have today. I asked Schelley to talk about her work with Thad and she expressed it this way:
Thad Andress playing his grandfather in the 2007 Ghost Walk




“The passing of another pillar of our community is a huge loss for the Dorcheat Museum.  I can tell you that there never would have been the museum as it is today without Thad’s push and pull.  In 2007 a meeting was held at the Andress home with the decision being made that I had one year to get it off the ground.  Eleven years later Thad’s dream is a working, functioning reality.  Thad was committed to having the best small museum possible done during his lifetime. 

Schelley Brown Francis and Thad Andress 
He served for many years as the President of the Dorcheat Museum and only stepped down when his health issues slowed him down.  We worked on countless projects, books, cards, exhibits, and brainstorming sessions together…. Both of us being a little hardheaded, we sometimes butted heads…. but I felt we always respected each other and the fact we were both strongly convicted to our goals of a successful museum.  I believe the museum was one of Thad’s most loved accomplishments.  He loved his family and it was important to him to keep his family history alive as well as a place his grandchildren could come visit.”

“We served on the Minden Cemetery board together as well.  Thad felt that as I did that the cemetery was an important part of our history.  We have lost so many of this generation and it is a loss we will feel from now on.  Thad’s passing will leave a great void in so many lives and in Minden.”



Schelley expressed it so well, I don’t think anyone can question the fact that Minden will never replace Thad Andress. On a personal note I have experienced some health crises over the past few years, the first person to step forward to offer help in my times of need was Thad. I will miss him so. We cannot replace Thad, but we can dedicate ourselves to carry on his work of “doing good things for Minden.”  Good bye my friend, may you rest in peace.



Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Museum 2018


Dear members of our community,

    As most of you know the Dorcheat Museum has had a sizeable financial cut for 2018 from the Webster Parish Police Jury.  We are counting on our local community citizens, leaders and businesses to keep us going for years to come. 

   We now have two ways to make a donation to the museum:

   As always you can mail a check directly to us at:

Dorcheat Historical Museum

P.O. Box 1094

Minden, LA 71058

    We have created an account for the Dorcheat Museum….you will now have a stock donation option to make it easier for some of you to make your contributions.  Ty Pendergrass with Argent Financial now is handling that part of our museum funding for us.  I have worked with Ty on several financial transactions through the years, the museum board feels confident in his ability to help us for our future progress, growth and sustainability.

    To transfer stock you will need to have your financial establishment contact; Argent Financial at 318-377-4262 and tell them it is in regards to the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum account.  The Argent team will be glad to help you!  I have been told you can donate in the amount of one share if you wish.  Remember your donations are tax deductible, we are a 501c3 charitable organization. 

     We look forward to 2018 and what the New Year brings.  We have cut back all spending that does not apply to day-to-day operation.  We will still be offering our free admission, tours, and free speaker programs during the year.  I encourage all of you to try to come to our September Fundraiser Gala.  We still will be supplying plenty of history to you, with our many books and DVDs that you can purchase.  Don’t forget we have our room in the back that is available for smaller groups to rent for business meetings and events.

      All plans for expansion will be put on hold until future funding becomes available.  We will never jeopardize what we have worked the last 11 years to build up.   We have a top notch small museum and we will continue to operate for many years to come.  Help us now!  Preserve the past for our future generations by making a donation. 

Sincerely,

 

Schelley Brown Francis

Dorcheat Museum Director

318-377-3002