Places: Johnson Home at Verda was built in 1903 by School of Music founder, Grant Parish Louisiana Source: Colfax Chronicle Date is unknown, Believed that it was done in late 1983 or early 1984 Submitted to USGENWEB By: Kay Thompson - Brown ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** JOHNSON HOME AT VERDA On a slight hill just across from the Verda School properties is the home of Mrs. Ruth Wallace Johnson. She can explain the house because that was where she grew up and saw the community prosper, then dwindle as the railroad and sawmill industries declined. A visitor learns much because "Miss Ruth" has recorded in scrapbooks she has put together, along with one from her mother's clippings, pictures of old things. The record of Verda, both "Old" and "New" (there were two post offices" and the memories haven't dwindled, even if the industry has. Mrs. Mabel Fletcher Harrison, a Verda resident, described it all well in her part of the Grant Parish History. She tells of the naming of Verda, after Mr.. Uriah E DeWitt's deceased daughter, when he became the first postmaster; of other solid citizens like W.O. Harrison, Lucius Woods, Buddy McDwain whose big store was close to the home of J.R. Miller, the "marring parson" (he has four wives buried in a row in old Mars Hill Cemetery", D.B. Coates, publisher of the Verda Tribune, Joel Fletcher who was president of Southwestern La. University, Ike LaCroix, Uncle Ed Gilcrease, Uncle Bill Bowen, barber, Jim Straughn, Hardy Wallace, Uncle Monroe Lang, Will Purvis, Uncle Jeff Hutchinson, "a solid, wholesome man whose word was his bond". And then there was Uncle Griffin Smith and Willis Wallace. There were others of like statue, making Verda what it became. Mr. D.H. Wallace as Mrs. Balley Johnson's father and operated general store from 1900 to 1940 or '49. He was interested in education and gave the land for the first and later schools. So interested was he, says his daughter, he upon request, stood on his head on the ridge of the old school. It was first a one - roomer, then there came a "Public"one set up by the Farmers Union, and finally the Verda High School was approved in 1908, the first in Grant Parish and one of the first in the state. There was also a college called "College Hill" which ran from 1902 until 1908 when it gave way to the high school. J.C. Gilbert founded the School of Music at the college, and built the house (in 1903) that was sold to someone, then rented to the DeWitts before being bought by D.H. Wallace in 1912. The family has kept it continuously. Miss Ruth tells of William Edenborn who brought from his native land the seed that grew into the two "German Oaks" in her front lawn. The railroad builder loved the area and set up an experimental farm at his "Emden". His line was the old L. R. & N. One by one the scrapbooks come out and Miss Ruth Johnson is proud of her contact with those who have come to continuous reunions of the high school and are shown in these histories. The first class was 1910 and had five graduates. A model of the one - room one and the second sit in her house, the brick one being at Northwestern State University. The ladies, with Noel McManus, constructed them. They're for the reunions. There's pride, too, in the fact that in 1915 and 1927 there were state championships. Since the 1934 marriage (they both finished school in 1927), the Johnsons were away only twice, once in Minden and a stay in New Orleans with railroad work during World War II. The seven children have had this place as home, gone to school in Verda, and loved it all. They all married Verda graduates, a thing Miss Ruth is also proud of. On the right side of the house one goes from the living room through a 12 - foot ceiling bed room to the kitchen and dining area to the back porch which serves as a "greenhouse". There had been one put back, but when there was danger of an electrical fire, it was abandoned and the plans moved to the porch. On the left are bedrooms holding, along with family furniture, Mr. Bailey Johnson's homemade bookcase and gun rack; all in a house with its steep roof which says its hostess, "has never leaked". Mrs. Johnson hopes those who come along will appreciate this heritage in "Old" and "New" Verda. She does, this is for certain.