Do you know who built some of Alexandria's well-known historical buildings?
Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series.
In honor of Black History Month, local historian and author Micheal Wynne spoke to the City of Alexandria Rotary Club about four Black local historical figures who were instrumental in building and shaping Alexandria and Pineville. The four he spoke about were August J. Toussaint, Charles Frederick Page, John Baptiste LaFargue and Louis Berry.
Black history is everyone’s history, Wynne said.
“I got interested in our area's African-American history when I began actively researching local history a couple decades ago,” Wynne stated in an email. “I found almost nothing written in all of our local history books or on display in local historical museums about African-American history in Central Louisiana. It was like their history was purposely left out. This shocked me as at least 1/3 of our population is African American.”
In this four-part series, The Town Talk will highlight each of these local historical figures so people can learn more about about them and their impact on local, state and national history.
August J. Toussaint
Not many know that August J. Toussaint was the primary builder of buildings throughout Louisiana and downtown Alexandria including, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, the convent next door to it, Shiloh Baptist Church and the Kress building on Third Street, to name a few, Wynne said.
Toussaint was born in New Orleans. He was highly educated and appointed a teacher in Marksville. In order to supplement his income, Toussaint learned bricklaying from his father-in-law, Wynne said.
“Quickly, he became an expert bricklayer,” he said. “In fact, he became more than an expert bricklayer. He came up with the idea in Louisiana of ‘figuring bricks.’ That was taking bricks and making designs in walls and having the bricks come out. We see that all around, typically of the older buidings all the time, but it wasn’t always in existence.”
Toussaint became so good at it that he taught his father-in-law how to “figure bricks.”
“A.J. Toussaint probably built more downtown buildings with his own hands than any other person around," Wynne said. "It’s time for everyone to know about A.J. Toussaint.”
Toussaint and his wife are buried in the Old Rapides Cemetery in unmarked graves.
“I’ve been able to figure out within a couple of feet of where he was probably buried, but sadly, it’s an umarked grave,” said Wynne.
Wynne said in his email that he especially enjoys “doing research on African-American subjects, as I am breaking new ground every day in this area. And what I have found so far is absolutely fascinating. But there is still so much more to research.”
“There is a great need to preserve African-American history, more than ever. So much has been lost due to neglect, as well as willful destruction by haters. It is all of our jobs, our responsibility to save all of our history, not just of our own race or gender or creed,” Wynne stated in his email. “If we ourselves want and hope for respect, we must offer respect to others of different origins. Much of our history is not only lost due to neglect, but even worse due to ignorance. History of different levels of importance happens every day. As has been said many times, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ (from George Santayanna)”
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Do you know who built some of Alexandria's well-known historical buildings?
