page_title: Monroe, Louisiana
section_title: Howard D. Griffin
hierarchical_section_title: Monroe, Louisiana / History / Howard D. Griffin
caption_attribution_description: English: I took photo with Canon camera at ULM in Monroe. It is the library and conference center.
context_page_description: Monroe is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the parish seat of Ouachita Parish. In the official 2010 census, Monroe had a population of 48,815. The municipal population declined by 8.1 percent over the past decade; it was 53,107 in the 2000 census. After a recheck in 2019, the Census Bureau changed the 2010 population from 48,815 to 47,294.
context_section_description: Howard D. Griffin (1911-1986) purchased a boat dealership in 1936 while he was a student at what became the University of Louisiana at Monroe. By the 1960s, Griffin's company had become the largest outboard motor dealership in the world. He also sold motorcycles. From 1955 to 1985, Griffin and his wife, Birdie M. Griffin (1915-1985), operated their seasonal Land O' Toys store on South Grand Street in Monroe. The motto was "Land O' Toys; Loads of fun for girls and boys; Bring the kids and look around; The biggest toy deal in the town." Once Christmas was over, the toy store was quickly phased out, and the outboard motors returned to the showroom. From her childhood memories, Sherry Lynn Mason recalls the Land O' Toys: 
  "I loved that store. Every time [my father] took me there, we were waiting for his outboard motor to be fixed across the street. It was a magical place to me!" Amy Berry Baker recalls, "It wasn't Christmas until we went to Howard Griffin ... magical for kids," according to an article in The Monroe News-Star.
  Mrs. Griffin died December 15, 1985, and the store closed permanently a few days after Christmas of that year. In March 2011, the remaining abandoned building burned. All that remains are the memories of the former customers, now all adults. Cheri Chadduck recalled, "Memories are completely magical, and I am so grateful for my childhood recollections of time there."
caption: University of Louisiana at Monroe Library and Conference Center
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