The Great Days of the Garden District, and the Old City of Lafayette

by Martha Ann Brett Samuel and Ray Samuel
Published and Copyrighted 1961 Fifth Printing 1974
By the Parents’ League of the Louise S. McGehee School
Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 61-18748
The city of Lafayette, during its 19 years of life, was proud and independent. Map shows its location and that of its “back” residential area, the Garden District. (Drawn by Gilbert Tasso.)
There has long been a need for the factual story of the old City of Lafayette and its fine residential area, the Garden District. What better opportunity to attempt to fill this need than to benefit the Louise S. McGehee School! This venerable institution now approaches its fiftieth year, a memorable half century of leadership in education.
Therefore, the Parents’ League of McGehee’s, as the school is affectionately known to three generations of students, considered it fitting to put its members to work on this project with a three-fold purpose: to memorialize the half century of growth of McGehee’s as it continues to expand its facilities to serve the community; to develop an extra source of income for the League’s contributions to the school; and to satisfy the continuous requests made by the hundreds of visitors who take the League-sponsored Garden District home tours.
The authors, who were asked to undertake the research and writing project, are gratefully indebted to many for their kind advice and consent. Old maps, documents, rare books and family records have been generously offered for examination. Illustrations have been lent from private and other collections. Patient understanding and careful correction of the manuscript were invaluable. We would like to thank particularly the following: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wilson, Jr., Mr. Cecil J. Murphy, Mr. Leonard V. Huber, The Waldo-Burton Memorial Home, Miss Margaret Ruckert, Mrs. Sue Bauman, Mr. Richard Koch, Mrs. William J. Griffith, Mrs. Dorothy Whittemore and others in the archives department of the Howard-Tilton Library of Tulane University, the Louisiana State Museum Library, the Notarial Archives, Mrs. Benjamin Cromwell Gore, Mrs. Robert Lee Emery, Jr., Miss Barbara Gessner, Miss Lily Gauche, Mr. Frank Boatner, Mrs. Keith Temple, Dr. Bernard Lemann, Mr. Albert Lieutaud, Mr. Harold Leisure, Mr. Carleton King, Mr. Errol E. Kelly, Mrs. John Prados, and Dr. Virgil L. Bedsole.