The Cooley House Winter White Coffee

The Cooley House Foundation held a Winter White Coffee at the historically significant Cooley House on January 21st to dedicate the Steamboat Library and Archives in honor of Lestar Martin and the late Jean Huenefeld, who worked tirelessly to see the library come to fruition. Emcee for the event, John Denison made note that Martin and Huenefeld were relentless in their pursuit of securing documentation of the history of steamboats along the Ouachita, as well as architecture in our area. The Cooley House Library includes a collection of King Stubbs drawings, many photos and newspaper articles about the steamboat area, as well as sheet music written by Selina Kugler (Mrs. G.B. Cooley) who taught piano lessons in the room designated as the Library now.

A packed house of well-wishers enjoyed wintry confections and champagne punch while being treated to an informative talk by the honoree, noted architect and architecture historian Lestar Martin. During his lecture, Martin asked for people to share their recollections about the steamboat era as well as information about Northeast Louisiana architecture.

One of the attendees, Mary Ann Saulsberry Jones, noted that as a young child visiting the home, she would hide along the mezzanine and listen to the adults talk below and remembers a ping pong ball floating on a stream of water emanating from the fountain outside.