WINNFIELD, LOUISIANA Contributor: 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 ********************************************** Winnfield, Louisiana Winnfield, the capital of Winn Parish, is located almost in the geographical center of the parish, and was made the seat of justice when the parish was established in 1852. A post-office was established at that time, but during the Civil War mail service was suspended. The town was incorporated in 1855, and at the present time it is one of the most important railroad centers in northwestern Louisiana, as it has four railroad systems, viz.: the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Louisiana & Arkansas, the Tremont & Gulf, and the Louisiana Railway & Navigation company, the lines of these four systems running in six different directions. In 1885, the Winnfield Academy was established {ed. note: Dr. Edward Davies, principal} but it has given way to the public high school. Fine beds of clay are found in the immediate vicinity, hence one of the principal manufacturing industries is that of brick and tile. Lumbering is also an important occupation. Winnfield has two banks, a money order post-office, express, telegraph and telephone service, several fine mercantile establishments, and the press and professions are well represented, as are the various religious denominations and fraternal societies. Population 2,925. WINN PARISH, LOUISIANA Winn Parish was established in 1851 {ed. note: actually 1852} during the administration of Gov. Joseph Walker, was created from the eastern part of Natchitoches Parish, {ed. note: and the western part of Catahoula, and the northern tip of Rapides} and as first laid out included within its boundaries the western part of Grant Parish. It is now bounded on the north by Bienville and Jackson Parishes; on the east by Caldwell and Catahoula Parishes {ed. note: now LaSalle Parish}; on the south by Grant Parish, and on the west by Natchitoches Parish. As Winn was so long a part of Natchitoches, its early history is that of the older parish. The first settlements were made along the Red River and the Saline before the country was surveyed. The parish was fully organized in 1852 and the first meeting of the police jury was held in a log building erected in 1851-1852 for a courthouse. This building was replaced by a more modern building, in which the police jury and district court were held until 1868, when the building and records were destroyed by fire. The courthouse and records were again destroyed by fire on January 12, 1888, after which the present building was erected. The first newspaper published in the parish was the Southern Sentinel, issued October 4, 1860, by J. L. Walker, as the champion of Douglas in this section of the state. The most important water courses are the Dugdemona River, which flows from northwest to southeast through the center of the parish; Saline Bayou and Clear Lake on the western boundary; Bayou Buckoa, and Cedar, Big Iatt and Beech Creeks. Water is abundant and of the best quality, throughout the parish, for cattle and domestic purposes. There are many mineral springs impregnated with salt, such as Pierce's Lick, Drake's Salt Works on Saline Bayou, Cedar Lick near Winnfield, in the Kiescho {Kyiche?} Creel bottoms, on Pendarvis' Prairie in the fork of the Dugdemona River, and Bayou Carter. The formation is chiefly pine hills with some good uplands and alluvial land along the streams. The principal product is cotton, but diversified farming is practiced, corn, hay, oats, potatoes, sorghum, sugar-cane, and tobacco being grown to a considerable extent. Such fruits and nuts as peaches, apples, pears, pecans, English walnuts, quinces and grapes are raised in abundance. Game and fish of all kinds abound in the forests and streams. Valuable deposits of salt, lignite, kaolin, gypsum, limestone, iron, fire and potter's clay exist, which only need to be opened and developed to prove a source of great profit. About five miles from Winnfield on the Natchitoches Road is what is known at the "Marble Quarry." It is a variegated stone of the rock-lime variety, which when burned makes excellent lime and is of sufficient quantity to yield lime for the whole state. Near the south line of the parish a marble has been found that takes a very good polish. The asphalt lands south of Winnfield are extensive, and the product is considered equal in quality of the Swiss asphalt. Winnfield, the parish seat, and St. Maurice, an old settlement in the southwestern part of the parish, are the chief towns. Other towns and villages are Atlanta, Coldwater, Couley, Emden, Flatcreek, Gaar's Mills, Gansville, Hickory Valley, Hill, Hudson, Newport, Royal, Sills, Tannehill, Wheeling, Winona, and Zion. The following statistics are take from the U. S. Census of 1910: Number of farms, 1,692; acreage, 180, 673; acres under cultivation, 52, 868; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $ 1,021,112; value of farm buildings, $ 506,231; value of live stock, $ 467,429; value of all crops, $ 715,120. The population was 18,357. (The above two articles appeared in LOUISIANA, Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form; edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D., Professor of Romance Languages in Tulane University, published 1914, and copied from same at the Winn Parish Library, Winnfield, La. Submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, La.)