Echoes From The Attic and Poems, Springfield Landmark, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Feb. 2001
Typed by Belford Carver
Written by by Edna F. Campbell
Copyrighted by Edna F. Campbell
With special thanks to her family for permission to use her works.

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AN OLD LANDMARK IN SPRINGFIELD

A monumental mark of time and historical note is a building in Springfield 
constructed around 1800.  The austere lines distinguish the structure and history 
records list it as an early courthouse.

The two-story brick landmark structure dates back to the time when Springfield was 
one of the most important communities in the coastal area of the states around 38 
years before the town was incorporated by an act of the legislature.

The town of  Springfield served for over 100 years as a major trading center but 
after the Civil War it is said to have decreased in prominence.  When the Illinois 
Central Railroad was bult and bypassed Springfield, much of its shipping interest 
was lost.  The building of highways linking Manchac and Slidell with New Orleans 
took away the traffic which had been Springfield's.

This waterfront settlement was established as a trading post of importance and the 
settlement came into being around the early 1720s.  Due to its ideal location it 
was the most important waterfront town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The name of Bookter's Landing was changed to Springfield because of the many 
springs.  Alexander Bookter was said to have been one of the first settlers.  
Warehouses lined the river banks.  Its first official records date from 1813 and 
court records listed Shepherd as parish judge.

The landmark building was used first as a bank, then as a courthouse and then 
became the property of John Settoon, a merchant, and passed on to Mrs. Josephine 
Settoon Slocum.  She remodeled the building and it has passed through several 
hands since that time.  It is now occupied by the Edwin (Red) McLaughlins.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC, VII, 1973, by Edna Campbell)

(Pic of the building)