Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 - (Page 31)

River Flood of 1932 Citizens in the Monroe suburb of Swartz held a “Stunt Night” at City Hall, complete with a puppet show, skits, and songs, to raise money for local children who were leaving schools in heavy numbers due to insufficient clothing and food. The Northeast Louisiana Press Club conducted a bread drive, placing boxes in public places, and using the local newspapers to encourage citizens to put bread, canned goods, or money into them. All proceeds were turned over to W.L. Workman and the Salvation Army. The Boy Scouts, led by J. Noble White, endorsed the Press Club’s plan and pledged its young membership to collection. Local Sur-Wa five-and-dime stores featured the bread boxes, as did the Monroe Furniture Company, Paramount Theater, and all of the local schools. SURPASSING ALL RECORDS On January 27, with the Ouachita higher than in 1927, over a thousand men, many recruited from relief lines and refugee camps, went to the flood lines to fill sandbags. The state highway department supplied the machinery that carried the sand from the pits to the water. All work was overseen by the Tensas Basin Levee Board, whose makeshift headquarters were on the fifth floor of Monroe’s Virginia Hotel. The Board was led by Lynton Ethridge, who predicted that the new effort would create a barrier strong enough to withstand a 50 or 51 foot rise. Men were recruited throughout the Northeast Louisiana region, as appeals on January 30 by Monroe’s sheriff, Milton Coverdale, and Mayor Bernstein brought workers from Rayville, Farmerville, Tallulah, and Bastrop. Water had only risen less than a tenth of a foot as of 2:30 that morning, but it placed water levels above 49.3 feet — a record for the area — and water began spilling over the levees in many places. A break in a levee just south of Sterlington (fifteen miles to the northeast of Monroe) caused a growing fear that Monroe’s levees would be next. Many young men attending Ouachita Parish Junior College and Ouachita Parish High School donated their services. Charles E. Kenney, principal of Monroe’s Neville High School, suspended classes to allow his male students to man the levee lines. Hundreds of women from Monroe and West Monroe also supplied food and clothing to both workers and refugees. “They do it all with a fervor and a grace that are only matched by the cheerful demeanor which belies tired bodies and aching muscles, unaccustomed to longcontinued and strenuous labor,” the Morning World thankfully editorialized. “Monroe will not be likely to forget what its women have done in this crisis.” On January 26, as local Red Cross workers served sandwiches and coffee to levee workers, June Lonas, state representative of the Red Cross, announced that the national body, represented by George Meyer, was on its way to Monroe to organize relief efforts — foremost of which were food drives in Ouachita and outlying parishes. Two days later, Meyer arrived. He spent the day touring Monroe and West Monroe, then traveled to adjacent damaged regions on the 29th. After a January 31 meeting of Red Cross officers and city and parish officials at city hall, the national organization agreed to take over Monroe’s relief operations. “The City streets were fully submerged. Riverfront Street, shown here, ran parallel to the Ouachita River in West Monroe, mirroring the path of Monroe’s Grand Street. Winter 2007-08/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 31 OUACHITA PARISH DIGITAL ARCHIVE, OUACHITA PARISH PUBLIC LIBRARY, MONROE

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Katrina: Days of Terror, Months of Anguish Paintings by Rolland Golden The Historic New Orleans Collection The Great Ouachita River Flood of 1932 Jazz Notes Louisiana Architecture Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water Louisiana State Museum Through A Lens Sharply: An Interview with Michael Lewis MR-GO: A “miracle” mired in controversy Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans: An Autopsy Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

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