Louann

 

LouAnn

 

Note:  A more indepth article may be found in the June, 1990  publication of the Historical Quarterly, entitled "The Early Days of Louann, Before and After the discovery of Oil", by Jeanne Clements, Director of Education and Research at the Arkansas Oil and Brine Museum in Smackover, AR and may be purchased, as long as the supply last by contacting Mr. Hubert Bodie, OCHS, 926 Washington ST., Camden, AR 71701 or by emailing OCHS2003@sbcglobal.net, attn:  Hubert Bodie.

 

Many people who pass through Louann probably have no knowledge whatsoever as to how the community began.  Others, who have lived in that area of Ouachita County for years probably think the name came from the days of the "oil boom" in that area.

This community began as a mail stop on what was then the Camden-Alexandria Railroad, later known as the Iron Mountain Railroad, and then finally the Missouri-Pacific.  During the days when the railroad was contructed, the foreman and his assistants boarded in the area with the Albert Wells family.  Wells was a rather prosperous farmer who owned a large acreage in southern Ouachita County.  The railroad workers who lived with the Wells family for a time decided to name the next stop south of Kirkland "Louann" after Albert and Mary Ann Well's daughter because she was faithful to carry water to them during the day while they were working.

At that time most of the community was located a few yards from the railroad right-of-way.  Albert Smith had a cotton gin there, and the LaGrone General Store offered merchandise to the citizens of the small community.  The R. E. "Lee" Shirey family moved into the area in 1916, and Lee Shirey became the first postmaster of Louann.  Two carriers worked out of that office.

By 1922, Shirey and Henry Berg, of Camden, formed  a partnership in the timber business at Louann because crossties were needed for the construction of the railroad.  Those two men purchased approximately two hundred and forty acres of timberland east of Louann.

Shirey also became the community barber.

Oil was discovered in that area during the mid-1920's, and this small community became a boom town almost over night as hundreds of people moved in. The property that Shirey and Berg had purchased was situated in the center of that pool of oil, and the Burton-Hughes gusher was one of the largest producers of oil that came in during that time.

Then, when the oil boom died, Louann reverted back to its original size to become another small community in Ouachita County.  Today, most of the people who live there work elsewhere.

Louann, AR