Alexandria Louisiana News: The Retro Recollection
Edition

Recent Updates
	How about dinner at Herbie K's on Lee Street? Read the story
	Recent updates to the Retrospective Register Read what viewers remember
	Alexandria railroads: depots, photos, MP, T&P, KCS, Rock Island
	Roy Rogers Visits Alexandria by boat, stays at Bentley Read the story
	England Air Force Base Pictures, Clippings, memories
	Tourist Courts and Retro Motels
	World War II Military Camps Near Alexandria
	The Don Theater on Bolton Avenue: A "Pack of Fun"
	New to the Retrospective, or a regular visitor? See the preview movie

The Retrospective was launched in 2000, and continues to put us in contact with thousands of people with Alexandria-Pineville and Louisiana roots and connections. We appreciate your support and interest!

New Websites

We've moved our 60 pages about Louisiana cities, travel, attractions, photographs, and maps to a new domain, www.Louisiana-Destinations.com

For those who served at England AFB, and remain interested in the base, we've created a new domain and website dedicated to the base's history and memories, at www.EnglandAirForceBase.info

These new websites allow the Retrospective to focus only on Alexandria-Pineville, and Central Louisiana.

New Features in 2012

If you haven't visited the Retrospective lately, we've added a number of new features.

We have new pages about Providence Central High School, the Masonic Home for Children, and St. Francis Xavier Cathedral. There is also a page about Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church, Parish and School.

For those with an interest in the huge military build-up in Central Louisiana during World War II, we have new pages about Esler Field, Camp Beauregard, and the Pollock Army Air Field.

Government buildings are also highlighted, with sections on Alexandria City Hall Past and Present, and the Rapides Parish Court House.

Many from all over Louisiana remember Maryhill, the site of Camp Maryhill and the famous "Star of the Sea" boat house on the lake.

Sign for MacArthur Drive South Traffic Circle

Hospitals have played a major role in Central Louisiana over the years, including the Baptist Hospital in downtown Alexandria, and the Central Louisiana State Hospital in Pineville.

And finally, for those who know and love or hate those Alexandria traffic circles, we've assembled a detailed history of the construction, design and evolution of MacArthur Drive. Included are some never-before published aerial photos of MacArthur Drive and the North Traffic Circle.

Visit the Retrospective again soon as we continue to expand and evolve the site!

Retrospective Preview

We've added a new "Preview" movie for our many new visitors, and our repeat visitors as well.

It highlights some of the popular content of the Retrospective: special people, special places, special events, the good times, the good memories! Take a look at the movie, and turn up your volume!

We Need Photos from You!

We would like to see some new, unpublished photographs appear on the Retrospective for all to enjoy. Something different, perhaps something personal, a new angle on a popular place we all remember. We've all viewed many photos of the old City Hall, the Bentley, Third Street, etc. Those are good, but we are trying to assemble a new group of unique photos. View some recent photos submitted.

If you have any photos to share, please email them to photos@alexandria-louisiana.com, along with a brief explantion: where, when, who, etc.

Who Views the Retrospective?

As witnessed by the continual addition of new entries to the "Register", the Retrospective web site is still being discovered and explored by new viewers, and by thousands of return visitors as well.

In 2011, the web site had over 41,600 visits from 34,900 individual viewers from 139 countries, with 171,667 page views. We are currently averaging over 200 visits a day with peaks as high as 900.

We hope that you enjoy your journey back to the simpler times!

Recollection News Archive

March 2011
New Features and Pages

For those of us with a fascination about the earlier days of travel, and retro motels, we have a new Tourist Courts of Alexandria section, highlighting some of our favorite "tourist courts" that existed in the area between the 1930s and the 1950s. We also are working on the Louisiana Tourist Court Collection as well as a feature called Alexandria Signs of the Times.

And enjoy a meal out at Herbie K's, or bask in the warm springs at Hot Wells. And don't forget to read about Roy Rogers' visit to Alec.

For those with interests in World War II and its impact on the Central Louisiana area, we've added pages dealing with WWII Military Camps, Camp Livingston, and Camp Claiborne.

And for our fellow alumni of the old Elliott Street school, you might want to view our Menard Memorial High School page for some familiar photographs and memorabilia. For Bears, check out the new Bolton High School page still being built.

There's also a new feature on Alexandria Skyscrapers plus a segment about Bolton Avenue - remember Fuzzy's, The Don Theater, and Piggly Wiggly? And take another trip out to City Park to the Rock Garden, natatorium, zoo, golf courses and see the Aces!

Remember Jack Frost from his days at KALB-TV? He has written a number of short stories, and a new fictional novel set in Louisiana. We're pleased to provide a brief biography of Jack and links to some of his recent work.

One final tip: it's been a while, but now you can take a ride down Third Street, just like in the 1950s!

January 2009
The Redesign

This site started slowly, and small, in mid-2000. Since then it has grown, and evolved, with many new features that somehow weren't always logically connected. So we've redesigned the site and made navigation easier, and the content more unified. Yet we maintained the integrity of the "Original Retrospective" as it appeared in 2000, with the documentary of the pictures of the city as it existed at that moment of time in 2000.V

June 2008
The Historic Bentley Site

We finished work in June with Dale Genius of the Louisiana History Museum on the HistoricBentley web site. If you have any interest in the Bentley, you'll enjoy the photographs and other information on the site.

February 2006
Classified Ads...from the Past

We've added a new section called Classified Ads from the Past ... do you remember 4-digit phone numbers, and those ads from Herbie K's, Dore & Jake's, Ellington Transfer, and others? View the ads

January 2006
Updated Postcard Collection

We've added over 20 new postcards to the Alexandria Postcard Collection during January, so be sure to take a look and see how many of those sites you remember.

August 2004
Clippings from the Past

View our new area entitled "Clippings from the Past", highlighting various local and national events and how they affected those of us with Alexandria-Pineville connections.

July 2004
The New Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center

We encourage you to see the great happenings in downtown Alexandria today, such as the new Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center on Third Street, built on the site of the old Wellan's Department Store. Click here and learn more more about this exciting new facility!

March 2004
The Status of the Original Retrospective

The Retrospective remains a collection of my thoughts, and emotions, as of mid-2000 when I originally conceived it. It was not meant to be an all-inclusive collection of Alexandria.

And time has already whittled away at those 2000 images, with some such as the street car tracks at Fourth and DeSoto, the Firestone Store, and the Gulf Oil Station on Bolton Avenue already sadly erased. So the "Original Retrospective" will remain unchanged as it was written and photographed in 2000.

February 2004
Alexandria Landmarks...Can You Identify?

A new feature added in January 2004 shows some less-obvious Alexandria landmarks. The landmarks will be changing often, so check back frequently with the Retrospective site and see if you can identify these landmarks from the past

January 2004
Due to Popular Demand: Alex Collectibles

As a response to your frequent requests, we are now offering custom-designed Alexandria collectibles, including CD-ROMs, calendars, large format reprints, and a series of montages suitable for framing. The Special Edition CD-ROM has been a popular item, as have the calendars and AlexMontages.

The first of these Alexandria Heritage Collection products are now available for purchase in the Gift Shop.

March 2003
Alexandria Postcard Collection

We've created the Alexandria Postcard Collection of about 200 historic images of buildings, street scenes, parks, schools, churches, military camps and more.