The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1890-09-13
YEARS AGO!
BY UNCLE SILAs.
v

The council. after organization, en-
tered into an agreement with Mrs.
Bridget Thibodaux by which the
town became the owner of a lot OF
ground forty feet il width, parallel and
Moth Of Market street. extending from
Green to Market, upon which a market
house was subsequently erected and
which was used for that purpose I'M
til 1862 when it caught fire from sparks
from a steamboat in the bayou and
was destroyed. In the second story of
this building was a room, known as
council hall, in which the mayor and
trustees held their sessions. In after
years, an addition was made to the
East end for the protection of d fire
engine, and a well dug within, which
well remains in use, near the present
market house. In the same contract
the town became the purchaser of a
square OF ground on Back street, known
and still used as a potters' field. For
these two lots of ground, all the prop
erty belonging to Mrs. Thibodaux was
to be exempted from the payment of
all corporation taxes for the space of
ten years.
The market house had been erected
before the contract had been legally
made.
1t was erected by Mr.. c. E. Morton
for thirteen hundred and fifty dollars.
The council contracted with Mr..
Reuben Gresham to build a fence
around the market house; stalls,
benches etc, were placed in the build
ing, and an Ordinance regulating the
sales therein was enacted, when the
market house was opened for the use
of the public, and remained the only
one until its destruction.
A fence was built around Potters'
Field at a cost of fifty dollars.
A drainage ditch was dug on the
west side of Jackson street.
The want of side walks and ban
quotes was seriously felt in the town.
standing upon ii soil of stiff, heavy
~alluvial deposits, and which adhered
to the shoes and feet with a remark
able tenacity, rendering promenades
ID rainy weather anything but pleas
ant and agreeable.
In order to obviate this annoyance
the council ordered the purchase of
fiat boats, with the ~gunwales and lum-
Der of which sidewalks could be con-
structed. The taxes assessed for the
revenues of the town were fixed at one
third Of n per cent on land and i'm
~prOvements and one fourth of II per
cent on slave property.
A ferry across bayou Lafourche was
located at the end of Marenge street.
Leander Bourgeois was the purchaser
of the lease for one year, in September
1910, for the sum of six hundred and
forty dollars.
The court house, stood on the same
ground that the present one occupies.
1t was a frame building, and, when
the new building was about to be
erected, it was removed to the Corner
of Green and Market streets. and, is
now occupied by James A. Frost as
Il saloon.
In the north east corner of the court
house square Was Il small building
used for the etfice OF the clerk of the
district court, and in the north west
corner of the square was a similar
building, occupied by the recorder of
VIC ptlioh. iltst TWO Offices were de-
moiished III 1861 when the new court
house was completed.
The Jail was situated upon the same
site that the present one occupies. It
was a frame building and demolished
about 1858 for the construction OF the
new prison.
The j%ailor's house was the same one
that now stands on the cor
ner of the square.
About the year 1910, the wants
of the town demanded that a street
should be made along the banks Of
the bayou Lafourche. for commercial
purposes, and for the reception and
forwarding Of freight ny water.
A surveyor was engaged by Ordin-
ance, $40 run Levee street to ascer
tain, as nearly as may be what per-
sons, if any, have cncroached upon
the street, by erecting improvements.r
Subsequently Mr.. John G. BEATTY
was by act authorized to call upuh
the proprietors on Levee street who
have %encroachtd on the same to pro
cure of them a recognition of the
rights OF the town, with their consent
that they will remove whenever mott
fled so to do by the lawful authorities
OF the town, all encroaching i'm