Echoes From The Attic and Poems, Pumkin Center, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Mar. 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.

************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************

PUMPKIN CENTER GETS NAME FROM SONG TITLE

There was neither frost upon the pumpkin nor fodder in the shock when a rural 
settlement seven miles west of Ponchatoula on Louisiana 22 was given the name 
Pumpkin Center.  In fact, the pumpkins were amiss when the community was given 
that name.

According to area historians, Uncle Josh and Aunt Nancy, a comedy team of fame 
on the old fashioned graphophone, and their refrains were responsible for the 
"pumpkin title."

Almost everyone in the community was familiar with the musical strains and 
jocular recordings of the aunt and uncle team.  The team's repeated chant,"We 
come from Pumpkin Center ha! Ha! Ha!" fell on receptive ears.

The graphophone was said to have been popular recreation in the home of Thomas 
Morris (Uncle Mott) Coates.  A member of the Coates family, Albert W. (Uncle Ab) 
was credited in suggesting the name to the residents.  When the question arose, 
"Why can't we be Pumpkin Center," the voice of approval in the unnamed community 
was of one accord.

"This was the beginning," according to John Hollis.  But it did not end there.  
Coates went to the center of the baseball field, placed a big pumpkin there and 
dubbed the team, The Pumpkin Center ball team.

The name caught on and held fast through the years.  Whether or not it really 
stems from a fictitious place in the old world of entertainment, it seems to be 
here to stay.

Mrs. Ray Beall, the former Viola Traylor, a lifelong resident and daughter of 
historian Otis Traylor, said, "the legend has been handed down by our parents.  
We intend to keep the tradition and continue the history.  All of the old 
historians are now gone, but their stories live on."

Mrs. Zemmer Coates, a spokeswoman for the family, has repeated the facts of the 
survival of the legend.  All agree pumpkins did not play any part in the meaning 
since no more pumpkins were grown in that vicinity than in other surrounding 
places.

Thus, the round yellow melon of the gourd family had to take a back seat in the 
origin of the locale's name and the fictitious name on the graphophone refrains 
was awarded the credit.  The graphophone was an invention of the 1880s long before 
the advent of radios.  The instrument, with its wide mouth speaker, found its way 
into urban and suburban homes in that era and apparently had a strong influence 
on the name of Pumpkin Center.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC, X, 1979, by Edna Campbell)

(Pic of sign)