A SHORT HISTORY OF GARYVILLE

The town of Garyville was built on the original Glencoe plantation Property and of two adjoining plantations - Emelie and Hope plantations.

Emelie plantation was owned by George Chauff in 1840. Later it became the Property of Cyprien Chauff who sold it to L. D. Chauff in 1900. In 1938 Emelie was sold to the Levet brothers. Today the Emelie Manor House is beautifully restored and is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney J. Levet, III.

Hope plantation was owned by David Adams in 1850. During the Civil War he sold it to Robert Watson, The next owner was Ozeme Labiche. He sold it to the Babin brothers around the turn of the century. In 1907 it was Purchased by Aqustin Lasseinge, and later divided into small farm plots and residential plots. The Hope plantation Manor House stands at the corner of Church Street and Louisiana Highway 44, and is the home of the Leo J. Millet family.

Glenco plantation belonged to Francois Perriloux and Francois Reine by 1883. It was sold to Leon Grauqnard who later sold it to the Southern Cypress Company. The next owner was the Lyon Cypress Lumber Company.

A large, modern sawmill and residential complex was under construction during 1903 and 1904. Soon the mill was operating. Many employees took up residence on company property. Others bought lots adjacent to the company Property and built their own homes.

Thus the town of Garyville was born.

By 1915 the entire stand of the stately and magnificent Louisiana cypress were gone forever!

The company hastily revamped the cypress mill and set it up to process pine. A hardwood mill was also built. The logging rail line was extended some 35 miles across the swamps into Livingston Parish where there was access to the huge pine forests of the area. The logging town of Livingston was constructed to house the families of those in their employ. All of this was accomplished in record time and soon the company was back producing lumber in record quantities.

The Lyon Lumber Company sustained terrific losses due to two large fires. One, in 1926, consumed the entire lumber storage yard. In 1928 a huge lumber storage shed and the entire contents were lost. Large pieces of flaming lumber were sucked up by the powerful draft and distributed down wind from the fire. Thirty-seven private homes went up in flames. One such blaze completely destroyed an automobile on the opposite side of the river some two miles distant.

The day of reckoninq came in August, 1931, when the supply of pine timber was exhausted and the last log was processed. The Grand old mill was sold as salvage. The entire operation was purchased by a former manger of the company, Walter J. Stebbins. He sold everything he could as salvage and sold the rest as scrap.

In its heyday, however, Garyville was the "Queen City" between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. There were three hotels, three barber shops, six boarding houses, an auto dealer, a number of churches, a Masonic Temple, three dairies, an ice plant, a bakery, a library, a pool hall, a gymnasium, three doctors, (who made house calls), three railway stations, two schools, a swimming pool, a movie theater, an ice cream plant, an ice cream parlor, two dentists, two drum stores, three service stations, an undertaking parlor, a large department store, a few general merchandise and grocery stores, a shingle mill, a moss gin, a few dance pavilions, two baseball parks, one tennis court, several saloons, and last but not least, a few "stills" for making "boot-leg" whiskey.

Today the town still shows some of the effects of the Great Depression that followed on the heels of the mill shutdown where approximately one thousand workers were laid-off without the hope of getting another job. Those were dark days, indeed.

Despite it all, the town did survive and eventually began to prosper. In early 1989 the German-Acadian Historical and Genealogical Society of this area nominated sections of the town designated as a National Historic District. It was accepted and approved and now this is the only area so designated between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

At present the former Garyville Improvement Association has joined forces with the Garyville Timbermill Museum in restoring the original main office building of the Lyon Lumber Company to use as a Museum.

The spirit of Garyville is alive and well and it shows. The new Garyville Magnet School is a prime example.

This story graciously contributed by Mr. Neal Joseph C. to Communties Online!


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