|
The dilapidated remains of the stately old home on Hennigan Street in downtown Merryville. The house was torn down in the mid-1990’s.
|
The Old House at the End of Hennigan Street
Not much is known today about the stately old colonial-style house that once stood on the east-end of Hennigan Street in downtown Merryville. This old house stood quietly for years, watching the comings and goings of this little sawmill town, from the peak of it’s timber boom in the 1920’s to the gaiety of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. One can only assume the home was one of the grandest in Merryville and was built about the turn of the 20th century; however, it’s builder is unknown.
What we do know is that it was a large two-story home with four large windows across the front first floor and five large windows across the front second floor. The front door had two wide sidelights and there was a rear porch off the kitchen, located toward the back right of the home. Upon entering the house from the street, you would move through a reception hall that ran the width of the front facade. You would then move past the large stairwell and into a parlor, dining room, kitchen and several other rooms on the first level. The second floor boasted at least four large bedrooms. A double front porch with six tall pillars spanning the front - along with banisters on the 2nd floor porch.
Multiple local sources have mentioned that the colonial mansion was once a hotel or boarding house. Rumors also have circulated over the years that the house served as a “house of ill repute”, along with the old Strickland Hotel down the street on Main.
At one time, the old house was said to have been home to the Riggs family of Merryville. It was also noted that two elderly sisters lived in the house for many years - they were most likely Edie Dailey Duckworth and Rhoda E. Dailey Duckworth who are buried in Merryville Cemetery. Some remembered that it was once a photography studio, as well.
The property and the old house was eventually owned by Catherine “Granny Cat” Stark, then to her grandson Pard Stark who sold it to Hardy Myers. It sat vacant and dilapidated for many years before it was torn down in the mid-1990’s due to it’s poor condition.
At one time, Merryville was a quaint town with a number of beautiful old Victorian-style homes throughout the downtown area. Many of these are gone now, lost to the ages, including this old house at the end of Hennigan Street.
_________________________________________________
Sources: Lake Charles American Press, Beauregard Museum, Findagrave, Elaine Winn, Jordan Myers Lukens and Avon Hennigan Knowlton
By Joe Williamson
Apr. 5, 2020
What we do know is that it was a large two-story home with four large windows across the front first floor and five large windows across the front second floor. The front door had two wide sidelights and there was a rear porch off the kitchen, located toward the back right of the home. Upon entering the house from the street, you would move through a reception hall that ran the width of the front facade. You would then move past the large stairwell and into a parlor, dining room, kitchen and several other rooms on the first level. The second floor boasted at least four large bedrooms. A double front porch with six tall pillars spanning the front - along with banisters on the 2nd floor porch.
Multiple local sources have mentioned that the colonial mansion was once a hotel or boarding house. Rumors also have circulated over the years that the house served as a “house of ill repute”, along with the old Strickland Hotel down the street on Main.
At one time, the old house was said to have been home to the Riggs family of Merryville. It was also noted that two elderly sisters lived in the house for many years - they were most likely Edie Dailey Duckworth and Rhoda E. Dailey Duckworth who are buried in Merryville Cemetery. Some remembered that it was once a photography studio, as well.
The property and the old house was eventually owned by Catherine “Granny Cat” Stark, then to her grandson Pard Stark who sold it to Hardy Myers. It sat vacant and dilapidated for many years before it was torn down in the mid-1990’s due to it’s poor condition.
At one time, Merryville was a quaint town with a number of beautiful old Victorian-style homes throughout the downtown area. Many of these are gone now, lost to the ages, including this old house at the end of Hennigan Street.
_________________________________________________
Sources: Lake Charles American Press, Beauregard Museum, Findagrave, Elaine Winn, Jordan Myers Lukens and Avon Hennigan Knowlton
By Joe Williamson
Apr. 5, 2020
|
A rough sketch of the layout/floor plan of the old Hennigan street mansion in a Merryville. Note: This sketch is not to scale and is not 100% accurate.
|
|
|
A Grand Lady In Downtown Merryville
The Sharver-Patton Home
Circa: 1906
Amid a grove of ancient live oaks on a large city block in downtown Merryville, the old Sharver-Patton mansion still stands well cared for today. The house faces Bryan Street and is flanked on either side by Tyler and Filmore Streets, and is just adjacent to the First Baptist Church.Early Merryville schools were just one room school houses that dotted the countryside around the town of Merryville. One of those schools was located about five miles north of Merryville along the picturesque Trout Creek. With the timber boom in the region at the turn of the 20th century, Merryville outgrew the one room school houses of the old days and newer and bigger schools were built.
Professor John McNeese was one of the biggest contributing factors in providing first class education to all children living in Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. After his death, McNeese State University was organized and built in 1939 and named in his honor. Professor McNeese could see the demand for better education, so he championed a state-of-the-art school to be built in downtown Merryville. McNeese worked closely with the school board members at the time - those members included President, Thomas J. Carroll; Britton Nichols, James Meadows and M.C. "Cook" Frazar. The new Merryville school was undoubtedly one of the most advanced learning institutions in the entire state and was the first school in Louisiana to offer domestic science classes. Girls who were enrolled in the domestic science classes were required as part of the curriculum to tend the school gardens daily. According to surviving school records, the school had as many as 350-450 students enrolled at one time.
During the time that this school was built, one must remember that Merryville was booming with business, commerce and activity. The area was growing rapidly with the timber industry and another town close to Merryville was to be built and named "Hall City". It never panned out and so Merryville's growth spurt kicked into high-gear. You would have to imagine beautiful Victorian homes lining the streets of Merryville, large hotels on the street corners and plenty of businesses such as a Coca-Cola bottling works plant and a Ford car dealership. Merryville must have been quite a city for the state of Louisiana to have approved construction of such an advanced school that surpassed so many other schools of it's time.
George D. Prien was the contractor over the project from Lake Charles and William Leftwich was the foreman. These two men along with an army of carpenters, built the school with every detail in mind. They chose enormous weighted windows with large panes to allow as much light and fresh air into the building as possible. Other details included the installation of three-foot wainscoating in all the classrooms and four-foot wainscoating in the hallways and the principal's office. The wainscoating was meticulously preserved with a 'hard oil finish' giving it a dark and rich appearance. The A.H. Andrews Company was contracted to furnish the school with desks for students and teachers students and to fill the spacious auditorium with opera seats.
The Beaumont Enterprise gave a very detailed description of the new building in an article from November 8, 1907. According to the report, the school had two floors plus a basement and cost $12,000 to complete (that comes out to about $345,000 in today's currency). The ground dimensions of the main building measured sixy-five feet by seventy-six feet and a brand new 'Peck-Hammond' furnace was installed in the basement.
The paper reported that the first floor had five school rooms total, three of the rooms measured 24'x30' and the other two measured 17.5'x30'. There were also three cloak rooms measuring 4'x17.5' and a grand entrance hall measuring 19'x15.5'. There was also a vestibul measuring 18'x18' and a second hall measuring 19'x15.5'. The ceiling height was 12.2' and there were two grand bookshelves measuring 4'x17'x6'.
The second floor of the school had one classroom measuring 24'x30', one measuring 24'x24', two dressing rooms that were 10'x10' with 12.2' ceiling heights upstairs as well. There was a cloak room upstairs measuring 4'x17', a principal's office which was 16'x16', the auditorium was 38'x62' complete with a 10'x18' stage. Additionally, there were two more dressing rooms measuring 10'x10' and two large bookshelves measuring 4'x18'x6'.
The tall bell tower rose nearly 70 feet above the second-floor joists and nearly 80 feet from the ground. According to newspaper descriptions, the building had two circle driveways at the entrances and two detailed pilasters that adorned the front doors. Three inch beveled-edge siding was installed on the school's exterior and the facade was painted a light brown and the trim was painted a darker shade of brown. With all the work completed, Professor McNeese inspected every detail and approved of the craftsmanship and construction. On November 15, 1907, the building was rendered ready for occupancy.
By August 1908, the school officials had started making plans to add on to the already large school complex. They proposed passing a 5-mill special tax to add new amenities. The special tax was passed by early 1909 with the approval of the citizens.
The Lake Charles newspaper ran an article on August 14, 1908 with the headline: "Not Afraid of Spending Money is the 'Merry' Merryville Plan of Running Schools." Professor James Williams, president of the school board, told the newspaper, "Merryville has the best school building in the parish and still they are not satisfied. The parish provides them with a splendid corps of teachers and some time ago they levied a five-mill special tax bond [and] obtained one of the handsomest and most complete school buildings it has been my fortune to see." He also mentioned that the Merryville School had three wagonettes in use to pick up children who lived in the neighboring countryside (within five miles of town). Wagonettes were the school buses of yesteryear and proved innovative and invaluable to the country children.
From a Lake Charles newspaper article dated April 23, 1909, the paper states: "With ten big, airy school rooms each with an individual cloak room, a commodious auditorium, and a large physical, chemical and biological laboratory equipped with $1,000 worth of instruments." The newspaper declared the school "a credit to any community!"
Principal Squires told the newspaper that they were working on stocking the library with more books. He said that they had $1,000 in cash to acquire new books to fill the empty shelves. Squires also remembered, "When I took charge here, there were over four hundred stumps on the school grounds, which embraces five acres." He pointed out that now all the land had been cleared and cultivated and now is home to a large school garden. Very close to the school, a deep well, eight inches around, had been dug and a 50-foot tall stand-pipe was installed under a large cistern. Squires said that by having the water cistern so close to the school was beneficial in the event of a fire and to irrigate the school gardens. Sadly, the water tower did not save the school when it was set ablaze some eight years later.
With Merryville's population skyrocketing, the construction of the new school added more folks to the area. Principal Squires told the newspaper in 1909, "It is wonderful what an effect a good school has on the surrounding country. People are moving in from the Sabine River bottoms and taking up tracts of ten, twenty and thirty acres."
Professor McNeese also selected an additional 10-acre tract adjacent to the school which would be made into a miniature farm for students learning agriculture. On March 14, 1910, the Lake Charles newspaper reported that Professor McNeese spent a few days in Merryville, examining the school farm and gardens. The paper stated, "The farm presented a pleasant contrast to any one previously beholding it, when stumps seemed to be results rather than means. Now the entire farm is as level and smooth as if being in cultivation for years." The paper states that two acres of the farm was planted in oats - it also stated that every part of the farm was planted with some crop. McNeese admired the work of Professor B.H. Carroll, who had been put in charge of the agricultural education at the new school.
Before it's fiery demise, the school served Merryville well for about a decade. It was cold on the evening of Sunday, January 6, 1918 - the faithful church goers that day had been to church and returned home to enjoy conversation and company. A passerby noticed dark smoking billowing from the school roof about six o'clock and immediately reported it to the authorities. By the time the firefighters reached the school, it was too far gone to save. Fire officials reported a loss of over $25,000; unfortunately, the school was only insured for $12,000 at the time of the inferno.
According to the Lake Charles newspaper, dated January 7, 1918, "several persons declared that they distinguished the odor of gasoline, and it is on this account that the occurrence is believed to have been the work of a firebug." It is unknown whether the sheriff was ever able to capture the arsonist or if they escaped the scene and was never captured.
About 375 students were now displaced without a proper place to learn after the fire. "For the remainder of that session and the 1918-1919 session, the pupils were housed in various church buildings," remembered Gladys Meadows Jacobs, "the high school grades were [housed in the First] Baptist Church where I graduated in 1919." Jacobs was a local historian and came from early pioneers of Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. The next year in 1919, a new brick school was constructed to house grades 1 thru 11 - this particular building was used for many decades. The current Merryville High School stands on the site of where the 1919 building was constructed, located next door to the old Merryville Cemetery burial grounds.
After the fire in January of 1918, Rice Lumber Company reportedly sold the property to Mr. Buran Sharver and his wife Rose. After surveying the large city block, only two school buildings were salvaged from the inferno. These two buildings, the home economics building and the agriculture shop building, remained untorched by the searing flames. The two buildings were moved together and attached, thus creating the beautiful house we see today. The house has a large front gallery held up by four white doric columns along with the original tall windows from her days as a school building. After all these years, one can still observe many of the old side-walks leading to the home and vintage metal cabinets from the science lab... just faint remenants of it's days serving the community as a cutting-edge educational institution. There is also a quaint little carriage house in the rear area of the property where Mr. Sharver's help was rumored to have resided.
Buran H. Sharver was born in 1874. As a young man, an attractive girl named Rose caught his eye as she worked in one of the hotels in downtown Merryville. Buran and Rose would eventually marry and had a daughter named Virginia on May 17, 1902.
After the Sharver's purchased the property, Mr. Sharver observed the close proximity of his house to the water works tower that had been installed near the school. Teresa Havens, the current owner of the home, recalled that Mr. Sharver "was the first to plumb water into his home, then he helped others with getting water into their homes."
Rose Sharver was born in 1875 and passed away in 1949. Buran followed her in death in 1955 - they were buried in Merryville Cemetery. After her parent's deaths, Virginia Taylor Sharver Patton and her husband William F. "Bill" Patton moved into the home and had it updated and renovated. They lived there for many decades. Bill and Virginia had a daughter named Laura Louise Patton.
Bill Patton was born in Monroe, Louisiana on September 6, 1898 and served valiantly during the first World War. Bill owned DeRidder Feed & Seed Store and Patton Insurance Agency in Merryville, he was a member of the American Legion Post 27 of DeRidder and the VFW Post 9711 of Merryville. Mr. Patton was also a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 329 F&AM and the Priscilla Order of the Eastern Star. He served on the board of directors for the Merryville General Hospital and the Merryville Housing Authority and was a past elected member of the Merryville City Council. Bill passed away on May 6, 1986 and was buried in Merryville Cemetery.
Mrs. Patton was a long-time educator at Merryville High School and a librarian at the Beauregard Parish Library. She was also an active member of the Priscilla Chapter No. 58 of the Order of the Eastern Star for 78 years and a past Grand Matron of the state of Louisiana 1973-1974. She lived for many years in the old Sharver house until she moved into a smaller house in Merryville where she passed away on June 6, 1998. Virginia was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church in Merryville.
After Mrs. Patton moved into the nursing home, the old mansion was sold in 1990 to Hardy Myers and his wife Renee Humble Myers. The Myers' lived in the home with their two children, Jordan Myers and Frind Myers for a number of years. The house was then sold to Elton and Teresa Havens who still own and preserve her today.
The house is known to have frequent ghostly encounters over the years, dating back to the days when Mrs. Patton lived in the home. She would often get paranoid that someone or something was in the house, she ordered white dust sprinkled in the attic to catch any prowlers footprints. She never captured footprints in the dust, yet the noises continued. Teresa Havens, current owner, had mentioned that paranormal investigators have been to the old house three times, hunting for spirits and haints that still roam the old halls of the beautiful old Sharver-Patton Mansion.
We hope that the stately old house amid the grove of oak trees will be well cared for into the next century. The home is one of the few examples that still remains standing today in Merryville, that truly illustrates the wealth and oppulence that encompassed Merryville from the 1890's up to the 1930's and beyond.
____________________________________________________
SOURCES:
“If Walls Could Talk: Louisiana Homes,” by Nola Mae Ross, p. 93.
Beaumont Enterprise archives.
Lake Charles American Press archives.
Times-Picayune archives.
Merryville High School Alumni Assoc. records.
Mrs. Teresa Havens.
Trulia.com.
Rita LeBleu, American Press writer.
Archives of Curtis and Gladys Meadows Jacobs.
Merryville Historical Society.
Louisiana State Archives.
Ancestry.com.
Beauregard Museum.
Find A Grave.
BY JOE WILLIAMSON
MAY 1, 2020
Professor John McNeese was one of the biggest contributing factors in providing first class education to all children living in Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. After his death, McNeese State University was organized and built in 1939 and named in his honor. Professor McNeese could see the demand for better education, so he championed a state-of-the-art school to be built in downtown Merryville. McNeese worked closely with the school board members at the time - those members included President, Thomas J. Carroll; Britton Nichols, James Meadows and M.C. "Cook" Frazar. The new Merryville school was undoubtedly one of the most advanced learning institutions in the entire state and was the first school in Louisiana to offer domestic science classes. Girls who were enrolled in the domestic science classes were required as part of the curriculum to tend the school gardens daily. According to surviving school records, the school had as many as 350-450 students enrolled at one time.
During the time that this school was built, one must remember that Merryville was booming with business, commerce and activity. The area was growing rapidly with the timber industry and another town close to Merryville was to be built and named "Hall City". It never panned out and so Merryville's growth spurt kicked into high-gear. You would have to imagine beautiful Victorian homes lining the streets of Merryville, large hotels on the street corners and plenty of businesses such as a Coca-Cola bottling works plant and a Ford car dealership. Merryville must have been quite a city for the state of Louisiana to have approved construction of such an advanced school that surpassed so many other schools of it's time.
George D. Prien was the contractor over the project from Lake Charles and William Leftwich was the foreman. These two men along with an army of carpenters, built the school with every detail in mind. They chose enormous weighted windows with large panes to allow as much light and fresh air into the building as possible. Other details included the installation of three-foot wainscoating in all the classrooms and four-foot wainscoating in the hallways and the principal's office. The wainscoating was meticulously preserved with a 'hard oil finish' giving it a dark and rich appearance. The A.H. Andrews Company was contracted to furnish the school with desks for students and teachers students and to fill the spacious auditorium with opera seats.
The Beaumont Enterprise gave a very detailed description of the new building in an article from November 8, 1907. According to the report, the school had two floors plus a basement and cost $12,000 to complete (that comes out to about $345,000 in today's currency). The ground dimensions of the main building measured sixy-five feet by seventy-six feet and a brand new 'Peck-Hammond' furnace was installed in the basement.
The paper reported that the first floor had five school rooms total, three of the rooms measured 24'x30' and the other two measured 17.5'x30'. There were also three cloak rooms measuring 4'x17.5' and a grand entrance hall measuring 19'x15.5'. There was also a vestibul measuring 18'x18' and a second hall measuring 19'x15.5'. The ceiling height was 12.2' and there were two grand bookshelves measuring 4'x17'x6'.
The second floor of the school had one classroom measuring 24'x30', one measuring 24'x24', two dressing rooms that were 10'x10' with 12.2' ceiling heights upstairs as well. There was a cloak room upstairs measuring 4'x17', a principal's office which was 16'x16', the auditorium was 38'x62' complete with a 10'x18' stage. Additionally, there were two more dressing rooms measuring 10'x10' and two large bookshelves measuring 4'x18'x6'.
The tall bell tower rose nearly 70 feet above the second-floor joists and nearly 80 feet from the ground. According to newspaper descriptions, the building had two circle driveways at the entrances and two detailed pilasters that adorned the front doors. Three inch beveled-edge siding was installed on the school's exterior and the facade was painted a light brown and the trim was painted a darker shade of brown. With all the work completed, Professor McNeese inspected every detail and approved of the craftsmanship and construction. On November 15, 1907, the building was rendered ready for occupancy.
By August 1908, the school officials had started making plans to add on to the already large school complex. They proposed passing a 5-mill special tax to add new amenities. The special tax was passed by early 1909 with the approval of the citizens.
The Lake Charles newspaper ran an article on August 14, 1908 with the headline: "Not Afraid of Spending Money is the 'Merry' Merryville Plan of Running Schools." Professor James Williams, president of the school board, told the newspaper, "Merryville has the best school building in the parish and still they are not satisfied. The parish provides them with a splendid corps of teachers and some time ago they levied a five-mill special tax bond [and] obtained one of the handsomest and most complete school buildings it has been my fortune to see." He also mentioned that the Merryville School had three wagonettes in use to pick up children who lived in the neighboring countryside (within five miles of town). Wagonettes were the school buses of yesteryear and proved innovative and invaluable to the country children.
From a Lake Charles newspaper article dated April 23, 1909, the paper states: "With ten big, airy school rooms each with an individual cloak room, a commodious auditorium, and a large physical, chemical and biological laboratory equipped with $1,000 worth of instruments." The newspaper declared the school "a credit to any community!"
Principal Squires told the newspaper that they were working on stocking the library with more books. He said that they had $1,000 in cash to acquire new books to fill the empty shelves. Squires also remembered, "When I took charge here, there were over four hundred stumps on the school grounds, which embraces five acres." He pointed out that now all the land had been cleared and cultivated and now is home to a large school garden. Very close to the school, a deep well, eight inches around, had been dug and a 50-foot tall stand-pipe was installed under a large cistern. Squires said that by having the water cistern so close to the school was beneficial in the event of a fire and to irrigate the school gardens. Sadly, the water tower did not save the school when it was set ablaze some eight years later.
With Merryville's population skyrocketing, the construction of the new school added more folks to the area. Principal Squires told the newspaper in 1909, "It is wonderful what an effect a good school has on the surrounding country. People are moving in from the Sabine River bottoms and taking up tracts of ten, twenty and thirty acres."
Professor McNeese also selected an additional 10-acre tract adjacent to the school which would be made into a miniature farm for students learning agriculture. On March 14, 1910, the Lake Charles newspaper reported that Professor McNeese spent a few days in Merryville, examining the school farm and gardens. The paper stated, "The farm presented a pleasant contrast to any one previously beholding it, when stumps seemed to be results rather than means. Now the entire farm is as level and smooth as if being in cultivation for years." The paper states that two acres of the farm was planted in oats - it also stated that every part of the farm was planted with some crop. McNeese admired the work of Professor B.H. Carroll, who had been put in charge of the agricultural education at the new school.
Before it's fiery demise, the school served Merryville well for about a decade. It was cold on the evening of Sunday, January 6, 1918 - the faithful church goers that day had been to church and returned home to enjoy conversation and company. A passerby noticed dark smoking billowing from the school roof about six o'clock and immediately reported it to the authorities. By the time the firefighters reached the school, it was too far gone to save. Fire officials reported a loss of over $25,000; unfortunately, the school was only insured for $12,000 at the time of the inferno.
According to the Lake Charles newspaper, dated January 7, 1918, "several persons declared that they distinguished the odor of gasoline, and it is on this account that the occurrence is believed to have been the work of a firebug." It is unknown whether the sheriff was ever able to capture the arsonist or if they escaped the scene and was never captured.
About 375 students were now displaced without a proper place to learn after the fire. "For the remainder of that session and the 1918-1919 session, the pupils were housed in various church buildings," remembered Gladys Meadows Jacobs, "the high school grades were [housed in the First] Baptist Church where I graduated in 1919." Jacobs was a local historian and came from early pioneers of Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish. The next year in 1919, a new brick school was constructed to house grades 1 thru 11 - this particular building was used for many decades. The current Merryville High School stands on the site of where the 1919 building was constructed, located next door to the old Merryville Cemetery burial grounds.
After the fire in January of 1918, Rice Lumber Company reportedly sold the property to Mr. Buran Sharver and his wife Rose. After surveying the large city block, only two school buildings were salvaged from the inferno. These two buildings, the home economics building and the agriculture shop building, remained untorched by the searing flames. The two buildings were moved together and attached, thus creating the beautiful house we see today. The house has a large front gallery held up by four white doric columns along with the original tall windows from her days as a school building. After all these years, one can still observe many of the old side-walks leading to the home and vintage metal cabinets from the science lab... just faint remenants of it's days serving the community as a cutting-edge educational institution. There is also a quaint little carriage house in the rear area of the property where Mr. Sharver's help was rumored to have resided.
Buran H. Sharver was born in 1874. As a young man, an attractive girl named Rose caught his eye as she worked in one of the hotels in downtown Merryville. Buran and Rose would eventually marry and had a daughter named Virginia on May 17, 1902.
After the Sharver's purchased the property, Mr. Sharver observed the close proximity of his house to the water works tower that had been installed near the school. Teresa Havens, the current owner of the home, recalled that Mr. Sharver "was the first to plumb water into his home, then he helped others with getting water into their homes."
Rose Sharver was born in 1875 and passed away in 1949. Buran followed her in death in 1955 - they were buried in Merryville Cemetery. After her parent's deaths, Virginia Taylor Sharver Patton and her husband William F. "Bill" Patton moved into the home and had it updated and renovated. They lived there for many decades. Bill and Virginia had a daughter named Laura Louise Patton.
Bill Patton was born in Monroe, Louisiana on September 6, 1898 and served valiantly during the first World War. Bill owned DeRidder Feed & Seed Store and Patton Insurance Agency in Merryville, he was a member of the American Legion Post 27 of DeRidder and the VFW Post 9711 of Merryville. Mr. Patton was also a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 329 F&AM and the Priscilla Order of the Eastern Star. He served on the board of directors for the Merryville General Hospital and the Merryville Housing Authority and was a past elected member of the Merryville City Council. Bill passed away on May 6, 1986 and was buried in Merryville Cemetery.
Mrs. Patton was a long-time educator at Merryville High School and a librarian at the Beauregard Parish Library. She was also an active member of the Priscilla Chapter No. 58 of the Order of the Eastern Star for 78 years and a past Grand Matron of the state of Louisiana 1973-1974. She lived for many years in the old Sharver house until she moved into a smaller house in Merryville where she passed away on June 6, 1998. Virginia was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church in Merryville.
After Mrs. Patton moved into the nursing home, the old mansion was sold in 1990 to Hardy Myers and his wife Renee Humble Myers. The Myers' lived in the home with their two children, Jordan Myers and Frind Myers for a number of years. The house was then sold to Elton and Teresa Havens who still own and preserve her today.
The house is known to have frequent ghostly encounters over the years, dating back to the days when Mrs. Patton lived in the home. She would often get paranoid that someone or something was in the house, she ordered white dust sprinkled in the attic to catch any prowlers footprints. She never captured footprints in the dust, yet the noises continued. Teresa Havens, current owner, had mentioned that paranormal investigators have been to the old house three times, hunting for spirits and haints that still roam the old halls of the beautiful old Sharver-Patton Mansion.
We hope that the stately old house amid the grove of oak trees will be well cared for into the next century. The home is one of the few examples that still remains standing today in Merryville, that truly illustrates the wealth and oppulence that encompassed Merryville from the 1890's up to the 1930's and beyond.
____________________________________________________
SOURCES:
“If Walls Could Talk: Louisiana Homes,” by Nola Mae Ross, p. 93.
Beaumont Enterprise archives.
Lake Charles American Press archives.
Times-Picayune archives.
Merryville High School Alumni Assoc. records.
Mrs. Teresa Havens.
Trulia.com.
Rita LeBleu, American Press writer.
Archives of Curtis and Gladys Meadows Jacobs.
Merryville Historical Society.
Louisiana State Archives.
Ancestry.com.
Beauregard Museum.
Find A Grave.
BY JOE WILLIAMSON
MAY 1, 2020
|
I wish we knew more about the old horse track that was once in Merryville. Old stories say it was located in the big field across from the housing authority downtown. This particular photo, I believe, was taken sometime around 1901-‘02. It is said the lady in black standing behind the fence with the little boy poking his head thru the fence was Elizabeth Nichols Eaves and her little son Willie (or her son Alva). Elizabeth’s husband passed in January, 1901 - thus, the reason she’s in mourning with all black clothing.
--Joe Williamson Per Facebook September 23, 2022 |
|
MERRYVILLE BANK, a branch of City Savings Bank and Trust Co. opened its doors in Merryville with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by a number of Merryville civic leaders, including mayor Bud Morris.
The bank was open for a number of years. It eventually closed its doors and the building became a hair salon called “Hair Etc” owned by Micky Smith. She even had a tanning salon at the shop. There is nothing left today of the building except for a thick concrete slab hidden from view by the tall grasses. --Joe Williamson Per Facebook June 20, 2024 |
|
Joe Williamson per Facebook
The Merryville Panther Den - 1960’s According to Mrs. Kitty Coody, the lady is Sally Rowell who married Donald Jeans. Harry Laurent married the couple when he was mayor of Merryville. Photo courtesy of Kitty Coody. |
|
1881 Logging Brands
|
The Merryville Panther Den - 1960’s
|