Towns & Cities: St. Maurice, 1938, Winn Parish, LA. Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: February 25, 1938 Winnfield News-American or Winn Parish Enterprise History of St. Maurice by Mrs. G. L. Wyatt The history of St. Maurice dates back to the time when Spain owned Louisiana. In 1760 the Spanish Crown gave a large grant of land on each side of the river where St. Maurice now stands to an Irishman by the name of O'Reilly. Red River at that time was called Rigolette du Bon Dieu, so named by the French. In 1826, the Prothros settled 3000 acres of the land which was part of the old land grant lying on both sides of the river. They named it the St. Maurice Plantation. Some say that it was named for Father Maurice, who was the priest in charge of the Catholic Parish there at the time (other sources indicate that Father Maurice was in the area long before this time). He is supposed to be buried at St. Maurice near the old E. J. Gamble house. Because the land on this side of the river is hilly, the Prothros chose this side (east) to build their house. The house, built on a hill overlooking the river, was a large eight room, two story house. The base and chimneys were built of sun-dried bricks made with slave labor. But it was finished with doors, windows, blinds, mantles, and other woodwork that was shipped from New Orleans on steamboats. So, without a doubt, the Prothros were very wealthy. They owned many slaves, and like all large plantations had a store. In about 1850 a yellow fever epidemic hit the plantation killing several of the Prothros and many of the slaves. During the time the Prothros lived on the St. Maurice Plantation, and until long after the Civil War, St. Maurice was one of the main steamboat landings on Red River. There were no railroads in this part of the country at all and freight was hauled by wagons, usually ox wagons, to many communities. Practically all the freight brought into Winnfield was unloaded at St. Maurice and haulded there by wagon. There is an old negro living at St. Maurice today who was born a slave on the St. Maurice Plantation. He remembers the yellow fever epidemic that took so many lives, and how the slaves left the quarters because of the dread disease, and built huge pine knot fires and smoked themselves to prevent the disease. He remembers when the Yankees came through during the Civil War, how they took all the food from the homes and burned everything in the store. Because Mr. Prothro was a Mason and the Yankee officer in command was a Mason, the buildings were all left standing. In about 1865 the plantation was sold at public auction and bought in by D. R. Carroll. Later Prothro bought it back and sold to the New York Lumber Company. That was after the Civil War. The New York Lumber Company then sold the house and fifteen acres of land to E. W. Teddlie. The Quinn Land Co., bought the rest that was on this side of the river, thus cutting the house off from the rest and dividing the plantation. In 1900 the railroad came through. The Quinn Land Company divided all the land that was on the railroad into lots and sold the lots to different ones as the town gradually moved from the river to the railroad. With the railroad came a sawmill, and St. Maurice buzzed with activity until the timber was all cut. The sawmill then moved away and the plantations came back into their own. The Quinn Lumber Company still owns the largest part of the St. Maurice plantation. He owns about 500 acres. The Quinns were rich lumber people from Michigan and owned land throughout the country, yet Morris Quinn, one of the partners in the Company, made St. Maurice his winter home from 1900 until about 1920. Judge Milling owns the old house and about 250 acres of the land. In the past few years Judge Milling has repaired the old house. It hasn't been changed and ranks as one of the oldest unchanged houses in the state. A highway was built through St. Maurice and, of course, the population spread to the highway. We have two stores and a post office down at the railroad, and one store, a gin, the school, church and cemetery on the highway. The cemetery was started in 1882 and the church was built about the same time. Due to the fact that St. Maurice was originally a plantation worked with slave labor, we still have many more negroes than white people. Many changes have taken place since the Prothros came to St. Maurice over a hundred years ago. Only one thing remains unchanged. The old plantation house still sits in dignity on the hill and watches the river as it winds lazily on toward the gulf. (Note: The priceless old historical mansion burned to the ground c. 1980, and St. Maurice will never be the same without her. Mrs. Wyatt failed to mention one of the more colorful owners of the old mansion, Dr. David H. Boullt, a politically powerful man who came into possession of the plantation after the Prothro family owned it. During the Civil War, Boullt sent his sons to the Confederate army, yet after the war, an opportunist, became a radical republican. During reconstruction, he served at various political levels including ward sheriff, tax collector, coroner, and was recognized by the former Confederates as a scoundrel. Much is on record in the National Archives concerning Dr. Boullt. In 1981, the original gate to the mansion yard was stolen in the dark of night and the current owner reported the theft to me. Oddly, in 1997 I received a tip at the sheriff's office as to the gate's whereabouts and it was recovered by Detective John Wooten and I and we returned it to the owner. At some point several years ago, some idiot knocked down and destroyed the cemetery and headstones situated in the front yard of the mansion. If I recall correctly, there were dozens of marked graves, white and black, free and slave, in the yard. Sadly, another piece of history is gone.)