Ben Johnson, Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000




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Ben Johnson.  Some of the largest executive responsibilities as a banker 

in Louisiana have devolved upon Ben Johnson of Shreveport and formerly 

of Mansfield, a young man in years, but president of two banks that 

represent a large part of the banking resources and credit of Northwestern 

Louisiana.



Mr. Johnson represents an old and honored family of Northwestern Louisiana.  

His grandfather, Col. Richard T. Johnson, came from South Carolina in 1849 

and founded the Cottage Grove Plantation, still owned and occupied by his 

descendant, six miles south of Mansfield.  Mr. Ben Johnson was born in 

Mansfield August 31, 1881, a son of Walter and Sue (Roberts) Johnson.  

His mother is still living.



After graduating from the Louisiana State Normal School in 1898 Ben Johnson 

gave four years of his young manhood to the profession of teaching.  The last 

two years he taught at Shreveport, in 1901-03.  Having decided to learn 

banking and make it his profession and life work, he accepted in 1903 the 

humble position of a runner at $25 a month.  In that capacity he entered the 

service of the Bank of Commerce and Trust Company at Mansfield, and went 

through all the positions of responsibility successively until he became 

president.  During the Period of his service this batik increased its deposits 

from $150,000 to $2,500,000, a capital of $20,000 to $300,000 and for a number 

of years has enjoyed the distinction of carrying more accounts than the city 

where it is located has population.



The remarkable success of this institution under the direction of Mr. Johnson 

attracted great attention to him as an able banker and he was offered attractive 

executive positions in banks in New York, St. Louis and elsewhere.  One such 

offer came from the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport, and largely on 

account of his personal pride in his native state he accepted the offer of 

the Presidency of the institution in 1921.  Since that year he has made his 

home in Shreveport.  In 1922 he was honored with the office of president of 

Louisiana Banker Association.  He is now a member of the Executive Council of 

the American Hankers Association, representing Louisiana.



Mr. Johnson since early youth has maintained a steady and heartfelt interest 

in religious, educational and moral movements.  In the First Baptist Church of 

Shreveport he is a teacher of a class of men with a membership of between six 

and seven hundred.  He also shows great interest in interdenominational work, 

directed largely through the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1923 he was 

in charge of the campaign to raise $550,000 for the new Young Men's Christian 

Association at Shreveport, thereby assuring the city one of the finest equipped 

Young Men's Christian Association buildings in the South.



A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 113, by Henry E. Chambers.  

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.