Ponchatoula Mayor, Smith E. Guthrie, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Feb. 2007
Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives.

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PONCHATOULA MAYOR, SMITH E. GUTHRIE

BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian

Ponchatoula businessman, farmer, civic and political leader, Smith E. Guthrie was 
born 18 Sept. 1890 in Ackerman, Mississippi, to James and Mertie Roland Guthrie.  
When he was but a two year old toddler, his family moved south to Philadelphia, 
Mississippi, in Neshoba County.  He graduated from Philadelphia High School in 1912 
and attended Valparaiso University for a year before stopping his formal education 
to assist his father in the saw mill business in Philadelphia.  Smith married 
Hattie Lou Webb, daughter of William and Emma Webb, in April 1917.  He was farming 
in Neshoba County, and went into nearby Philadelphia to register for the military 
draft in June 1917.

Smith left Mississippi in 1920 and came to Wadesboro, Louisiana to operate a 
sawmill on the Ponchatoula River.   Mr. Guthrie, his wife Hattie, and their two 
year old daughter Mary Blanche made their home in Wadesboro.  After cutting the 
available timber in the area, Mr. Guthrie became a truck farmer.  In 1930, Smith 
was farming at Mount's Villa on the Ponchatoula River west of Ponchatoula.  His 
family had grown by that time to include a son Edgar, and a daughter Maxine.

Smith and the family moved to Ponchatoula shortly thereafter and in 1939 he began 
to serve as the marshal of Ponchatoula completing the term of Mr. Octave Anglade, 
and thereafter served under newly elected Marshal Ed Tucker.  Smith entered the 
race for mayor of Ponchatoula in 1944 and defeated his opponent Jack S. Vaughan by 
a 470 to 410 margin. 

The horrors of World War II were fully felt by Smith and Hattie when they received 
the news that their only son, Second Lieutenant Edgar L. Guthrie, the co-pilot of 
a B-24 Liberator bomber had been killed while flying in India.   Edgar, only 
twenty-five years old, was buried in a military cemetery in Hawaii.  The Guthries 
like so many American families had made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our 
country from Japanese and Nazi aggression.

Smith was reelected without opposition as mayor of Ponchatoula in 1948.  During 
his eight years as mayor of Ponchatoula his administration was able to eliminate 
the chronic gambling problem in the town, provide thirteen miles of blacktopped 
streets, a new water supply for the town, and a municipal swimming pool for 
Ponchatoula's children.  At the end of his second term as mayor of Ponchatoula, 
Smith entered the race for the Louisiana Senate and was elected in 1952 to 
represent portions of Tangipahoa, Livingston, and St. Helena parishes.  During his 
time in the state legislature, he was able to have Highway 22 between Ponchatoula 
and Springfield improved and a coliseum constructed at Southeastern Louisiana 
University.

Smith decided not to run for reelection and began to concentrate on his business 
activities.  In 1956 he founded the Kemp Street Nursing Home to provide a quality 
assisted living residence for Ponchatoula's elderly citizens.  In 1961, Smith sold 
the nursing home to Mr. E. P. Guitreau.  Starting with a one room house, the Home 
expanded under Smith and Guitreau and by 1965 served forty-three patients.  Later 
Mr. Guitreau's family closed the Home, moved the business to a new site north of 
Ponchatoula Creek and constructed a much large facility they named Belle Maison. 

Soon after selling the nursing home, Smith retired from business and returned to 
the farming lifestyle he had practiced for many years.  He became a successful 
strawberry farmer cultivating his berries on a farm on Weinberger Road.  After a 
few years he had to stop farming because advancing years and ill health. 

Smith died 20 Oct. 1971 in the Kemp Street Nursing Home he had begun and was 
buried in Ponchatoula Cemetery.  Hattie died almost ten years later on 14 July 
1981, and was buried beside Smith.  Their three daughters married and started 
their own families.  Mary Blanche married Ellis Gill and later Murphy K. Gill of 
Ponchatoula, Maxine married A. M. Newman of Hammond, and Shirley married Alton J. 
Arnett of Bogalusa.  Smith's son Edgar, who had died in the war, had married and 
had a son Edgar L. Guthrie, Jr., to carry on the family name.

Smith Guthrie, a business and political leader of our community, and his family 
contributed to the development of Ponchatoula and helped shape our present 
hometown.

Anyone with questions, comments, or suggestions for future articles, may contact 
Jim Perrin at 386-4476.