Town: Zwolle, Sabine Parish Louisiana Source Extracted from The Sabine Index 29 December 1993 Submitted by Thelma Shields shields@eufaula.lib.ok.us ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If you are searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. A Look at Zwolle's Early History The first inhabitants of the bowl shaped area of land upon which the town of Zwolle is situated were the Mound Builders. Lured here for protection from storms, the "bowl" offered them protection. Prehistoric people built the dome shaped mounds that line the banks of Bayou Scie and Bayou San Miguel, which form a bollowy circle around the town site. Like all other Mound Builders they are believed to be ancestors of North American Indians found occupying the territory when the Europeans arrived. The Indians occupying the "bowl" and the surrounding country were very friendly with the French and Spanish and many of them intermarried with these early adventurers and settlers. The first English speaking settlers arrived in Sabine Parish in 1824 coming by way of Natchitoches. The first of these to reach the Zwolle area settled at Bayou Scie where as early as 1795 Spanish missionaries had established a Roman Catholic Church. In the early days freighting was done in this area chiefly by ox wagons which joined the trains that moved along the East Hamilton road from Hamilton's ferry on Sabine River to Natchitoches and Grand Ecore. In 1881 when the Texas and Pacific railroad was built through Sabine Parish, Robeline became the chief trading post. In 1881 William Martin Webb and his bride rode the first passenger train over the Texas and Pacific railroad from Texarkana to Pleasant Hill. They came from Pleasant Hill by buggy to Clyde and opened a trading post. Later when Clyde was made a U. S. post office Mr. Webb was appointed the first post master. In 1895 the Kansas City Southern railroad was completed. It was learned that the railroad was to be extended to a point 12 miles north of Beaumont, Texas to connect the line between Kansas City and the Gulf. With this exciting news came the discussion of vantage points along the proposed railroad for KCS depots. In the beginning Clyde was the tentative site selected for this area. However, it was at this time that William Potts, one time engineer and one of the largest landowner in Zwolle and T. Laroux, another land owner made plans for getting the depot built here. They were successful and each of these landowners donated to the Kansas Terminal Construction Co. 20 acres of land that a 40 acre square around the present site of the Kansas City Southern depot in Zwolle. The acreage was in turn by the Arkansas Town site Co. for the purpose of developing the town site. Since the original area was too small for a town, the company soon enlarged its acreage by the land donations of the following men; Laroux, Tyler, Pearson, Skull and Davis. By Sept. 19, 1896 the railroad was built to Zwolle. On September 19, 1897, the last spike was driven and the road was completed to the given point twelve miles north of Beaumont, Texas, connecting the line from Kansas City to the Gulf. Zwolle was named in 1896 by Jan De Goeijen, a stockholder of the railroad. It was said that upon his first visit to the town site of Zwolle, Mr. De Goeijen was impressed by St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a product of the early Spanish missionaries, that stood silhouetted against the pines on a hill overlooking the town site and the peaceful valley below. Being a Catholic, he named the town Zwolle for his birthplace, Zwolle, Holland, a seaport in the Netherlands. Upon his numerous trips to America in the years that followed, Mr. De Goeijen visited Zwolle. Arriving by special train from Kansas City he took pictures of the town and mailed letters from there to his friends in Zwolle, Holland. In the course of time he met Sen. R. L. Gay. As each of these men held a warm place in his hear for Zwolle and its devoted citizens, they became friends. There after on New Years Day and Christmas time, Dr. DeGoeijen sent greeting to Zwolle by way of cablegrams, cards and letters to Mr. Gay. In this manner the people of Zwolle grew to love the kindly Dutchman knowing that he had not only named their town but had used his influence and the gold from the banks of Holland to help create the Kansas City Southern railway and make the founding of the town of Zwolle possible. Thus it was that Mayor Joe B. Parrot and the citizens of Zwolle were saddened by a letter with the news that Jan De Goeijen, passed away on March 4, 1944. This letter was written by his son. Up until 1940 his father still had in his room the original map of his Amsterdam office on which were marked in his own handwriting the names at the moment of their christening ....the Huns destroyed it. "But your place is still on the globe's map and shall remain there forever. No matter what may happen to Zwolle, Holland or in whoever's hand it may someday be. Zwolle, Louisiana shall carry on the tradition of freedom and peace. May thus it be" This was the last paragraph in the letter: " In the meantime I beg you Mr. Mayor to accept the expression of my very best feeling. Good luck to you and good luck to Zwolle. Yours sincerely, John A. DeGoeijen" The charter for the town of Zwolle was granted 12 June 1898. The municipal officers who signed it were Mayor Charles R. Stockford, Councilmen, L. B. Gray, W. M. Webb, J. A. Franks, and J. W. Allen. Witnesses were E. Massie and J. P. Darby. The limits of the said town of Zwolle shall be one mile square and the storehouse of William Webb as now located, (which is the present site of the town library) shall be the center point and the lines of said limits run north and south. Louis B. Gay, agent for the Arkansas Town site Co. built the first house in Zwolle. William Martin Webb of the trading post at Clyde built the first store. Charles R. Stockford was the first postmaster of Zwolle and his son Louis B. Stockford, was the first child born in Zwolle. The first churches in Zwolle were built: St. John's 1831; First Methodist 1897; and First Baptist 1900. A. S. Keelan founded the Pelican Drug Store in Zwolle in 1902 where he was proprietor and druggist for 21 years. He died in 1923. He left the business to his immediate family which has continued in operation under the management of his son Festus A. Keelan. In 1905 the bank building on main street was built. In 1901 a group of business men interested in the development of the timber industry in Louisiana purchased the Allen Lumber Company in Zwolle and formed a manufacturing unit called Sabine Lumber Co.. The president of this organization was Joseph William Ferguson. He continued in this capacity until his death in 1933, when he was succeeded in office by his nephew, Paul T. Sanderson. At Mr. Sanderson's death, his position went to Joseph Clark Ferguson, son of the original founder. Sabine Lumber Co. several years ago was sold to Boise Southern Co.. They later closed the mill. The site today is occupied by Zwolle Rail Car Co. Among the famous preachers that came to Zwolle were the Culpeppers, Hoffowins, and a priest Rev. Father Van Huver. Millis and Jennings was the road show that played in Zwolle then. Norris and Rowe Circus was the first railroad show to come to Zwolle. Clark Brothers Circus was the first horse and wagon circus in town.