Newspaper, Grassroots & Cockleburrs, Back When... Part II, LaSalle Parish, LA.

GRASS ROOTS AND COCKLE BURRS- Back When…Part II
By Jack Willis
Transcribed by Pat Ezell, PatEzell@worldnet.att.net
Submitted by: Kathy LeMay Kelly, P.O. Box 219, Trout, La. 71371
From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wed., Nov. 10, 1999, 
Section C, Page 11 
Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the
Archives. 





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Back When…Part II
As what was to become Peyton Street made its way northward up to the top of a
hill, the road forked. The right fork went up to the front gate of a huge,
sprawling double-pine house belonging to Jim King. Mr. King had the
distinction of being the Town of Jena's very first Sanitation Engineer. It was
his job to pick up garbage around town and to haul it to the town dump. The
dump was located where "Snob" or "Mortgage" Hill is now on the north side of
town. To accomplish this, he had taken a Studebaker wagon and totally
customized it. It had steel wheels, no doubt from off a lumber bugg from one
of the area sawmills, "highrise" sides and standards to increase the hauling
capacity. He had a big, black, long-tailed and long-maned horse, that
dutifully pulled the loaded wagon to the dump twice a day.
As state before, there was a narrow, rutted wagon road that proceeded on past
the King house and went in a straight line along what we all called the
Jackson Field. It was an approximately 15 acre tract of unplowed land covered
with broom sedge, sweet gum saplings and not much else. I was overjoyed in the
summer of 1947 when I found out this particular tract of land had been
purchased by the School Board for the site of a new Jena High School. We had
served our respective sentences in the "black beauties," had a year in the
posh surroundings of the new Jena Elementary School, so this news came as a
very pleasant surprise. That meant I wouldn't have but a very short distance
to walk to school.
The realization of the actual truth came when a contractor moved a bulldozer
in and began extensive earthwork renovations for the planned football field.
There was only one house and it sat in the northeast corner of the property.
They later picked it up by a housemover, and relocated it over near where the
new Bank of Jena is now. That was purportedly where the Jacksons resided. 
Aside from the football field and stadium, the next most impressive bit of
construction was that of the gymnasium. We had to suffer through varsity
basketball games being played on dirt courts. Everybody stood for the duration
of the game. Only the faculty had seating purloined from the nearby
agriculture building. On some occasions, games were played at the Trout Good
Pine gym if the game didn't interfere with TGP's schedule.
Finally in the fall of 1948, consolidation of Jena and Trout Good Pine was
accomplished and the doors opened at the new school with Raphael Teagle at the
helm as principal. There would only be about a dozen in that graduating class
because of the addition of an extra year to the number needed to graduate,
that being twelve. Up until then, one only had to attend eleven years of
schooling to receive a high school diploma.
In some 50 years since the dozer first pushed the first blade of fresh earth,
Jena High School has shown steady growth and development. This new building
was nothing like the old wooden structure which met its demise in a disastrous
fire in 1944.
Go Giants!!!