By Jessica Gorman
The photo that accompanies this article tends to be a well-loved photograph from Minden’s past. It is found in various publications, websites, and hangs on the walls of local homes and businesses. This photo, and others said to feature the Minden Male Academy, have bugged me for some time. Only now do I have the evidence to support what I believed to be true.
The Minden Male Academy was a school for boys of all ages located on the site of what is now Academy Park. This school is said to have opened at the same time as the Minden Female College. Prior to this, a coeducational school, the Minden Academy, had been in operation on the grounds of today’s Minden High School. The Male Academy and Female College closed upon the opening of a public school, the Minden Graded High School, about 1899.
The campus of the Minden Male Academy has been said to have included 80 acres of land donated by W. A. Drake. When placed in the proper context, the size of the campus doesn’t quite make sense. In reality, it was actually much smaller. The transaction is recorded on 2 July 1852. The record references a tract of land “consisting of 80 acres and twenty-three one hundredths of an acre.” This tract is sometimes referred to as “Drake’s 80 Acres.” It is mentioned as part of the land description because the land donated for the Minden Male Academy was located in the northwest corner of this 80.23 acre tract. Not including a 40-foot allowance for a street to run across the north end of the property, a small parcel of land measuring just 160 feet by 200 feet was donated to the town for the academy. This parcel included only the upper portion of what is now Academy Park. The record also reveals additional information stating “the lot above referred to is the same upon which the Minden Male Academy late built by D.W. Canfield now stands.”
The land was donated not only by William A. Drake, but also Drury Murrell, Jasper Gibbs, and Thomas Gibbs, to the town of Minden “for and in consideration of the interest they feel in the cause of education in general and particularly that of the youth of the town of Minden in the parish of Claiborne and the surrounding country and to promote and facilitate intellectual improvement in our community thereby guaranteeing the most effectually by enlightening the minds of our youth the perpetuity of our domestic and national liberties.”
So, what about the photo? That’s the kicker and a revelation that I don’t expect to be well-received. We have several photos that show the same building. One is the accompanying photo of the horses at the well, another said to be students of the academy, and one of just the building. The photo of just the building is even included in the Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS and is identified as the Minden Male Academy. However, the building in these photos in no way resembles the building that is known to have been purchased by John T. Watkins and moved from the Academy Park site to the corner of Sullivan Street and East and West. I’m not exactly sure why this wasn’t questioned before. Mostly, I think that the assumption has been that multiple buildings made up the academy. I find no evidence to support this.
Sometimes, things grow in our minds to be more than they were. I think this may be the case with the Male Academy. In 1947, Dr. Luther Longino, considered to be our first local historian, had this to say about the academy. “A large, two story frame building was erected” and when closed was “moved about two blocks west of present site and reconditioned into a meek boarding house.” As a resident of Minden at the time the academy building was moved, Dr. Longino would have had first-hand knowledge and only mentions one building. That academy building still lives in the memories of some Minden residents as the “Honeymoon Hotel” which was demolished in the late 1970s.
The unfortunate truth is that the photos mentioned are not of the Minden Male Academy. I’ve been fairly certain of this for some time but, until recently, only had minimal evidence to support my theory. That evidence was the realization of what the building in the photos actually was. It wasn’t in Minden at all, but instead was located in Mt. Lebanon. If you are familiar with images of Mt. Lebanon University, you will quickly recognize it in the photograph.
Even though I was convinced, I knew that I needed more evidence before making any claims. So, I enlisted some help, and that resulted in the evidence I was looking for. A sketch of the campus of Mt. Lebanon University confirms the existence of a well in the location of the one seen in the photo. Comparison of other known photos of the university to photos attributed to the Minden Male Academy strongly confirm matching features including the well and other buildings.
How do I think this mistake was made? Obviously, I have no way of knowing for sure and I don’t like to speculate. But, if I had to guess, I would say that these photos were probably included in someone’s family photographs. “Grandpa,” or some other male relative, probably went to school at the Male Academy and later, Mt. Lebanon University. At some point, the photographs were explained as being of Grandpa’s school but the distinction wasn’t made as to just exactly which school that was. Whatever the case, when we take a look at the evidence, it tells a different story from the one that we believed to be true.
(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)