+

Texas Street in downtown Shreveport over the years! ... See MoreSee Less

+

First Office building in Shreveport!

The American Telegraph Company stood at 518 Texas Street in downtown Shreveport! It was the first office building to exist in Shreveport! The owner was none other than local attorney J.B. Slattery. If the name Slattery sounds familiar, it’s because the Slattery Building at the SE corner of Texas and Marshall Street bears his name! It sat at 518 Texas until it was demolished just after the turn of the century to make way for the Woolworth building! The Woolworth building looks much different today than it did right after it was built. In 1954 the beautiful façade was covered up for some unknown reason , probably due to a lack of interest in preserving history.

Today the building stands empty across from the courthouse where it’s stood for 114 years! (We think that building, with a lot of renovation, would make an excellent museum that could showcase the amazing history of downtown Shreveport! From old downtown Shreveport photos to important artifacts from this area’s past, it would generate tons of traffic from people, like us, who live that sort of stuff!) The next time you drive by the building, stop and take a look at a huge part of Shreveport’s history then turn east and look at the beautiful Slattery building that also sits empty and wonder if anything can be done to resurrect these historical buildings for future generations to enjoy! Old photos courtesy Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS, Film Arbor Studios, Thurman C. Smith and Winston Conway Link Collection .

Very proud to have been asked to be a part of this documentary!

This year marks 100th anniversary of The Slattery Company and a documentary on the Company and family was commissioned to celebrate this huge milestone! A while back Katie Schonhoff contacted us about any photos that we had come across at the Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS that might be helpful in this documentary. Of course, we jumped at the chance to help! Over the years we have found a good bit of Slattery related photographs that fit perfectly into this documentary!

Not only have we come across a lot of really good photos related to Slattery, we have also met several Slattery relatives along the way such as Joe Slattery, Camille Meehan, Flo Fowler and Nell Carmichael!

We are so glad that this family is being honored like this, and that the building’s history is being highlighted! The next time you drive by that big beautiful Slattery building think of this amazing documentary and the love of the city that went into the building of it!

Click here for the the Slattery 100 Year Documentary!

youtu.be/53IyIMO_S00 ... See MoreSee Less

+

The Famous Mirror Steakhouse!

Several years ago we posted about this fancy little restaurant that was once located on Louisiana Ave down the hill from the old Union Station. Back then we had several good photos of this restaurant from that time, but we recently found more while looking through the Thurman C. Smith Collection! We even have a photo (colorized by us) of the beautiful mirror that hung on the wall!

The Mirror sat at 981 Louisiana Ave right down from Union Station. Johnny Wessler (a guy that knows a lot about this area's history) commented, "The Mirror Steakhouse on Louisiana Ave. moved to the Mirror Steakhouse on Highland. It was sold, along with the building, to Don's Seafood and Steakhouse." As for the original Mirror Steakhouse building, it was bulldozed to make room for Interstate 20. Another good question popped up Diane George “What ever happened to the mirror itself”? Well, according to local architectural genius Richard J. Cawthon, Architectural Historian "I was told that it was purchased after Don's closed, but it shattered while being moved." Well, we really hope that isn't true!!! If someone knows please contact us and also SEND PICTURES!!!!

Click on the link below to read the The Shreveport Times article by Art Carmody, Jr. on the Mirror Steakhouse's history! Photos Courtesy Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS and Thurman C. Smith Collection.
Shreveport Times story here
www.shreveporttimes.com/.../letter.../3087799001/ ... See MoreSee Less

+4

Looking Back at the 1900 Block of East Texas in Bossier City!

Amber Inn, Hi-Lo Lounge, Rockland Motor Courts.... How many of you have heard your relatives talk about these places?

We love finding iconic photos like this of businesses that no longer exist! Back in 1962 our good friend, Thurman C. Smith, photographed this area presumably for insurances purposes after a wreck. Although we hate that there was an accident here we are extremely pleased to have this "glimpse back in time" of a part of Bossier that was rarely photographed! ... See MoreSee Less