It would be an obvious omission if Richardsontown did not receive its due in conjunction with a discussion of Daniel Warren Richardson (1848-1929), overwhelmingly known as "Uncle Warren." Having recently published a column which focused exclusively on "Uncle Warren," I'm venturing to Richardsontown, today. A place that I heard about all my life but about which I didn't know diddly.
That was until I came across a fantastic write-up, entitled "The Village of Richardsontown" in the July 4, 1989, Bogalusa Diamond Jubilee Book in my files. While the author wasn't noted, Judge A. J. Jones wrote the preceding article on Bogalusa's Judicial System. Perhaps the jurist penned the remarkable piece on Richardsontown. But it is to someone other than yours truly that full credit is owed. C. P. Verger was the President and General Chairman of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration, with the following at his side: Mayor M. E. "Toye" Taylor, Chairman of the Board; Mrs. Bonnie Powell Tynes, Secretary and Vice President, Mrs. Lennie W. Moak, Treasurer, and I. A. "Mac" Magnitzky, Jr., Headquarters Chairman.
To recap, "Uncle Warren" Richardson was the son of Stephen Decator Richardson (1826-1866), and wife Eliza R. Warren (1826-1895). Going back another generation, Stephen Decator Richardson was the son of Stephen and Elizabeth "Betsey" Morris Richardson, and Eliza Warren Richardson was the daughter of Daniel Rees and Martha Seale Warren. "Uncle Warren" married Rosa B. Thomas (1855-1892), first, and Fannie Thomas, second. By Rosa, ten children were born while the marriage to Fannie was without issue.
According to the write-up in the Bogalusa Diamond Jubilee Book, the Village of Richardsontown existed as an incorporated municipality, five years before Bogalusa became a city and was incorporated in 1914. Richardsontown was incorporated on the first of March, my mother's birthday, in 1909. W. Gibbs Dorsey served as its first mayor; Pink Richardson was marshal; and Pink Stewart, Marshall Richardson, and E. J. Dreyfous were aldermen. L. L. "Toy" Richardson was mayor, around 1911, followed by L. T. "Tom" Richardson, Richardsontown's last mayor.
Richardsontown ceased to exist on July 4, 1914, when Bogalusa came into being and took in the village. But before that, it enjoyed a northern boundary of North Avenue and Southern boundary of what became known as Miller Place. The western boundary was to the east of what became Byrd Avenue, and the eastern boundary was Columbia Street, on the north, and a block to the west of Columbia, on the south.
Much of Southeast Bogalusa was owned by the Richardsons, while the Goodyear brothers were buying up the land that became Bogalusa. Said Richardson property was largely owned by "Uncle Warren" Richardson, who was also known as "The Grand Old Man of Washington Parish" by the time of his death in 1929. A pioneer of the parish, he was widely known, well respected, and very popular. Giving each of his children one hundred acres, "Uncle Warren" was also generous. The land that was Richardsontown was given to his son Marshall Bartell Richardson. Accordingly, it was known as "Cannon's Hundred" as Marshall's nickname was Cannon.
An interesting anecdote was told by Marshall Bartell Richardson's last surviving child Hebe Richardson Yarborough. Apparently, the name derived from the Wabash Cannonball, the Wabash Railroad's express train, and Marshall's mother's remark when he was courting a young lady she didn't approve of: "When the Cannonball comes [through], all the other trains hit the sidetrack."
Marshall Richardson relinquished his land near Founder's Drive, selling it to Great Southern Lumber Company for $10,000 and going into business with the proceeds. The story goes that said after the business failed, Marshall was left with just one chair. Fascinated by chairs, I chuckled at what he called it - his $10,000 chair.
But the land in South Bogalusa, which he held onto while Great Southern was building the sawmill and surrounding community of Bogalusa, remained Richardson property, and a nice business district sprang up, along the Main Street - the village of Richardsontown. The Richardson Brothers store, which was owned by Marshall with his cousins L. L. "Toy" and O. D. Richardson, surely was central to the village of Richardsontown.
According to Mrs. Yarborough, a line of businesses ran south from there - a millinery shop, a drug store, and the Richardson Hotel, where she and her brothers Jewell, Denver, Jim Warren, and Lacy were born. She well recalled, at age two, moving to their home on South Columbia Road in a wagon full of furniture. There was a piano on board, which Corbett Mitchell played, while Jim Warren Richardson drove the wagon.
Mrs. Yarborough enumerated more businesses in Richardsontown - the Bank of Bogalusa; the White Elephant (which was a speakeasy, also known as a "blind tiger" back then); Planche's bakery; the Cannady store, which was run by Mrs. C. Ellis Ott's father (who became Bogalusa's first city judge) and which eventually became a school; Eastman Mitchell's grocery store; Ogden's grocery store; Emil Dreyfus's dry goods store; Pink Stewart's store, operated by William Pinkney Stewart, Jr., and Dorsey's general store.
The article in the Bogalusa Diamond Jubilee Book quoted Dolly Lewis, who was Stewart's daughter. She explained that her parents lived upstairs, from the store which "sold a little bit of it all." Both ladies, Mrs. Yarborough and Mrs. Dolly Stewart Lewis recalled their fathers losing their businesses because they extended credit to customers who, in the end, couldn't pay. Mrs. Lewis reflected, "He said he couldn't see his fellow man starve to death." This is a testament to how tough the times were in those days. A depression from 1907-1908 hurt folks across America, and locally the Bank of Bogalusa failed in 1912.
The Gem Hotel, which Marshall Richardson's brother L. T. Richardson owned, was situated next to Pink Stewart's Store. Situated to the south of the hotel, there were private homes and also the Second Baptist Church, the predecessor to the Main Street Baptist Church, which housed the school until the Cannady store was pressed into duty. The one-room school, which was taught by Beatrice Mason and Mary Ellison, featured a curtain which divided the classes into two sections.
And in a nutshell, this was Richardsontown, from 1909 to 1914.
