In the early 1900s, residents of a small north shore logging community built a modest house of worship near Madisonville and named it the Eagle Eye Baptist Church. The modest wooden structure became a nonsecular town center for an unincorporated area of western St. Tammany Parish known as Houltonville.
The area’s landscape has changed dramatically over the years, but the tiny, inconspicuous church still stands near the entrance to Fairview State Park off La. 22, having been moved there from its original location closer to Lake Pontchartrain. Its name has changed — to the Magnolia Baptist Church. So has its mission.
No longer an active church, the rickety building stands as a remembrance of Houltonville, a predominantly Black community near the Tchefuncte River made up of timber industry workers and their families. The longleaf pine harvested by these laborers form the bones of many historic structures that exist today in New Orleans, a fact that supporters believe could make the church an important historical and civil rights relic.
Magnolia Baptist Church’s ramshackle state has triggered concern that the last vestige of the bygone village could soon disappear, and that is why a local pastor and a group of St. Tammany Parish history buffs are rallying to preserve and restore the church that has steadily decayed over the past decade.
“It’s just sitting there as a structure, and we want to bring it back to life,” said Bonnie Dennis, who chairs the Historic Preservation Committee for the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. “We feel like this is a really cool project for our chapter to adopt.”
Leading the effort is Donald Burris, pastor of the Goodwill Missionary Baptist Church in Mandeville, chaplain for the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office and a leader in the parish’s Black community.
“I don’t want to see it torn down because of its history,” Burris said. “Some people will never see a church like this. Our goal is to restore it to its original look so that people can see how we used to have church in a building like this.”
Houltonville? Who knew?
A Google search of Houltonville reveals very little about the place, other than a Wikipedia entry that gives only its location: “St. Tammany Parish … latitude 30.407 and longitude -90.143.” What can be gleaned on the area’s early years comes compliments of scant historical accounts and the community’s few remaining former inhabitants.
What’s known is that the area between Mandeville and Madisonville was part of a logging community that came to life after New Orleanian W.T. Jay purchased 400 acres of forested land in 1885 and opened a sawmill to harvest longleaf pine and cypress. He secured rights of way to build a rail line to transport timber to growing areas in the post-Civil War south, including New Orleans.
The Dummy Line Railway was already transporting fresh cut logs when brothers Charles and William Houlton purchased Jay’s holdings in 1906, and with the purchase, what was known as Jayville became Houltonville. The community included a general store, a U.S. post office, a few churches and about 250 sawmill workers, according to historical accounts.
In 1936, the Houltonville property was sold to Frank Otis, whose family owned and operated Otis Manufacturing in New Orleans. The north shore property consisted of what is now the Otis House Museum, a residence built by Jay in 1907. When Otis died in 1962, he bequeathed the house and 99 acres to the state, requesting it be used for public recreation. That property is now Fairview State Park, and other parts of the original Houltonville were developed into residential neighborhoods.
Houltonville’s identity as a timber town faded over time.
But in February, Slidell resident George A. White drafted a historical brief detailing his early life there, and that remembrance is being used to raise awareness of the importance of saving the Magnolia Baptist Church building.
White, a descendant of one of Houltonville’s original families, described growing up in the community in the 1950s, noting that many activities at the time centered around Magnolia Baptist Church. He says the Houltonville community originally consisted of six areas “with a (total) population that approached 300 people, of which most were of African descent.” One of the six areas is now part of the Beau Chene community.
Magnolia was the largest of two churches that served the community, with at least 50 members, White said.
“The events that took place inside the small structure and on the grounds became the shaping tools of many of the young people who attended them,” White wrote. “There were many happy events that took place inside the sanctuary from weddings to christenings to annual church celebrations to sad occasions, such as funerals.”
The church managed to keep afloat under the direction of the Rev. Frank Sheridan. But as the timber business gave way to development and residents moved away, the church’s membership dwindled to just a few worshippers. The church became a mere storm-ravaged building after Sheridan died about 10 years ago, and his family members are now involved in the effort to restore it.
Saving the church
Surrounded by ageless oak trees, the Magnolia Baptist Church building is located on a narrow road about a mile off traffic-choked La. 22 between Madisonville and Mandeville. Storms have knocked down power lines, leaving the tiny church darkened and without utilities of any sort.
Vandals damaged the building, prompting Burris to restore windows and take preventive measures to keep weather from causing further harm to the interior.
Dennis, the DAR committee member, and other history enthusiasts are trying to identify grants and other financial resources to fund the church restoration. They are also seeking to create a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to help raise money for the project.
A small bit of money has already been raised, a small portion of it from makers of the movie “Where the Crawdads Sing,” a drama produced by Reese Witherspoon and based on a best-selling novel of the same name. Part of the movie was filmed in Fairview State Park, and a key scene was shot at the church. The movie — about a young girl that grows up alone in the marsh — is set for release in July.
Dennis said a painting of the church by artist Sandra Silk Bono will be raffled to raise funds for the restoration. Once the church gets some needed TLC, supporters said it could be added as a stop on the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail, which presents to visitors the state’s role in the civil rights movement.
Iris Vacante, a Madisonville historian and curator of the Madisonville Historic Museum, said the church has great historical value because it was a bastion of benevolence for members of the segregated community.
“This church tells a story about the lives of African Americans in Houltonville who were instrumental in the thriving sawmill industry on the north shore,” Vacante said. “It provided a safe place for people of color to worship, congregate, celebrate unions and lives.
“So many historic buildings have been destroyed by storms or to make room for progress. When we find a gem like this, it’s so important to protect it for future generations,” she said.
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