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A Glimpse of our Past
by Stacey Paretti Rase
photography by Abby Sands Miller
The building that sits on the corner of Cedar and Rampart Streets in Madisonville looks unassuming enough. In fact, if you’ve driven through the heart of the small town, chances are you passed right by without even taking notice, save for the incredible oak that stands guard just outside its doors. But while the exterior of this two-story, red brick structure might not catch your attention, surely the history guarded within its walls will, for the century-old building houses the remarkable Madisonville Museum, a landmark on the National Historic Register. Its contents include many of the small town’s artifacts, as well relics pertinent to the history of the surrounding area and priceless recorded histories of those who once dwelled along the Tchefuncte River bank throughout the past 100-plus years.
The keepers of this fascinating collection, curators Ginger Stanga and Jeanne Motichek, are a fount of information. Nurturing the museum since its inception in 1991 after a complete restorative renovation of the building, the two are skilled at retelling much of the town’s oral history. “Our goal is to preserve the history of Madisonville and all the surrounding areas,” says Stanga. “One of the best ways to do that is by taking videos of local residents as they tell their stories and pass along their memories.”
Motichek continues, “As people continue to tell us their stories, we continue to incorporate them into what you see and hear about here.”
Some of their favorite stories are those they have learned about the building itself. Built in 1911 of brick and cement—sturdy enough to withstand many a flood and hurricane over the years—the structure was used until 1975 as the town’s courthouse and jail. “Up here,” says Stanga, gesturing around the sole room on the upper floor, which now serves as the main room of the museum, “is where all the business of the town took place. If you needed to pay your water bill, you came here. If you needed to see the judge, you came up here. In fact, the judge would sit in his chair here,” she says, motioning to the center of the room that seems extremely too small to have ever served as the hub of town government. “When someone was arrested, they were brought right up here to him for sentencing before being led downstairs to the jail.” The museum has kept intact the six jail cells on the bottom floor—a fact that Moticheck says has evoked fear in many a visiting school-age child who is led inside a cell only to be shown that the old-fashioned keys still really do work!
Stanga says the museum was originally the mission—obsession, really—of onetime Madisonville councilwoman Patricia Pelloat. She spearheaded the project but sadly died before seeing the fruits of her enthusiastic labor. When the mayor sought out Stanga and Motichek to take on the task of developing the museum, they gladly accepted. But the town itself didn’t immediately support their effort. “They were not really ‘locals,’” explains museum board member Jan Willis, noting that Motichek and Stanga hailed from Ohio and Texas, respectively. But they both married into families that have strong ties to the area, she says. “People eventually came around.”
One of the first items donated to the museum lent instant credibility. It was a wood-carved sculpture of a falcon and pintail, constructed in 1975 by the talented local craftsmen father-son team of Charles and Eric Hutchison. Motichek notes that “Hutch,” as she lovingly refers to Charles, and his son are known the world over for their work. Made entirely of wood, the wildlife look so real that Motichek said Hutch was once accosted by a bird lover who scolded him for shooting and stuffing the beautiful animals. The museum now boasts a collection of their work and visitors still have trouble believing that each intricate feather in the sculptures is made of wood.
A most recent exhibit addition has likewise brought newfound interest to the waterfront town’s quiet museum. It is a historic panoramic photograph of the Tchefuncte River and its bank, believed to have been taken around 1885-1890 with a camera that rotated on its stand, eliminating the splits usually found in panoramas. The photo features the southern waterfront prior to the construction of the famous Jahncke Shipyard. It measures 50 inches by 14 inches, and the vantage point of the camera indicates a position on the east bank of the river, approximately 1,500 feet south of the present Madisonville Bridge, or the location of the present Del Ray Marina. “The prominent buildings visible are two hotels, the smoke stack of the icehouse, a waterfront store and the well-known Cowan Shipyard,” notes a press release circulated by the museum following the photograph’s donation. “There is an obvious pecan orchard in the middle of the photo and a building that appears to be a church. On the river, there is a small double-ended boat underway with two passengers. The large oaks have obviously withstood the test of time, as they are as viewed today.”
The photo, which gives a marvelous glimpse of what life was like at the turn of the century on the northshore, was donated by Madisonville native Pearl Blossman Olsen. Pearl was the first salesperson for the Beau Chêne development. Her sales office was in the historic Penick home located at the end of Plantation Lane in the subdivision. The photo originally hung in that home, later found space in Pearl’s own living room and now will remain in the museum for residents to enjoy for many years to come.
Other standout pieces in the cozy one-room museum include artifacts from the Choctaw Indians, who traveled often through the area of Madisonville. A Bible with yellowing pages displays two columns of text on each page: one side in English, the other in Dakota/Choctaw. There are original documents from the Sons of Labor, dated in 1893. Stanga explains that the group was analogous to a modern-day insurance company, taking care of its members’ bills when he could not work to pay them off. A newly constructed exhibit centers around the history of jazz musicians on the northshore and presents an original poster advertising the Lake Pontchartrain service of the Steamer Pleasure Bay—a 1920s water taxi on which jazz musicians would play throughout the journey. The poster notes that the steamer departed West End daily at 9 a.m., with a return trip at 3 p.m. from Madisonville. The round trip fare was a bargain at $1.50.
Perhaps the best exhibits at the museum are not actual exhibits at all, but are well-known town stories kept alive by their animated retellings. There is the story of the famous Silk Lady Ghost, who haunts an area called Palmetto Flats in the swamp on the edge of town. Many claim to have heard her scream out across the water, including the current town mayor, Peter Gitz. His detailed encounter with the ghost can be heard on tape at the museum and a display portraying the Silk Lady herself can be seen in one of the cold, dark jail cells.
Undoubtedly the most humorous of all the collected histories at the museum is the story of the 1989 rooster. The story goes that a woman moved to Madisonville from New Orleans, looking for a life of peace and quiet. What she found instead was a neighborhood rooster that kept her awake every night. The woman received no help from neighbors or law enforcement to silence the animal. On the contrary—residents instead denied his very existence. Exasperated, she called the Times Picayune for help, yet every time a reporter or photographer would go out to find the rooster, the townspeople would simply move him to a secret location. The entire fiasco culminated in a contest to name the bird—the clever moniker “Reveille” won out—followed by a tongue-in-cheek arrest of the animal for “disturbing the peace.” He was provided an attorney, put on trial, eventually found guilty and was sentenced to make appearances at all town events.
“Reveille even showed up here for our opening in October of 1991,” laughs Stanga, “and if I remember right, that woman moved on back to New Orleans.”
Perhaps you’ve passed through the charming town of Madisonville and come across the peculiar yellow “Rooster X-ing” sign on the highway. Now, thanks to the storytellers at the town’s museum, you know the rest of the story.
The Madisonville Museum, located at 201 Cedar Street, is free to the public. Hours of operation are Saturday and Sunday, 12-4pm. For more information, or to book a group tour, call (985) 845-2100, or visit www.madisonvillemuseum.com.
