(The following is
a carefully researched but only partially authenticated history of one of
Lafayette's most fascinating neighborhoods. The history has been compiled
over a ten-year span from multiple sources including the memories and family
histories of many of Lafayette's oldest African-American families. It has
been compiled by various journalists, ministers, historians and University
researchers who continue to seek out the lost stories of the last one and
one-half centuries:)
HISTORY OF FREETOWN AND THE GOOD
HOPE HALL
In the
years before the Civil War, it was possible for the enslaved African-Americans
of the South to purchase their own freedom, in many different ways, including
through extra forms of work done on what was normally their own time.
Additionally, as various planters became fond of their workers, some of the
older African-Americans were set free in return for good service rendered over
several decades. Ultimately, before the Civil War in the 1840's and
1850's, in the Town of Vermillionville (a town which was later to become the
City of Lafayette) these "free men of color" settled in a newly
engineered subdivision known as the "Mouton Addition". The Mouton
Addition was populated by a heterogeneous mixture of lower and middle class
Caucasians and Free Men of Color. Nonetheless, because of the presence
there of the freed African-Americans, the Mouton Addition became known, in the
years immediately preceding the Civil War as "Freetown". The
land used for the "Mouton Addition" had been part of the plantation
of Governor Alexandre Mouton, and many of the "free men of color" had
worked on that plantation, called “Ile Copal”. Alexander Mouton was the
son of Jean Mouton, founder of Vermillionville. The plantation faced the
Vermilion River and was on the site of the present LeRosen School on Pinhook
Road.
With the end of the Civil War, slavery
ended in the South and the newly freed slaves sought the counsel of the older
"free men of color" who peopled the Mouton Addition at the
time. As a result, the "free men of color" lent their
experience in living at liberty to their newly freed brethren. The
livelihood of choice at that time was tenement farming the fields east of the
city near the area known as Pinhook Road. Many of the newly freed slaves
also settled in "Freetown" and a common bond quickly developed
between the original "free men of color" and the newly freed slaves.
The original free families of the area became leaders of their communities for
multiple generations that followed and set the stage for a very rich history
and a tradition of significant achievement during times of heroic struggle for
their race. The original “Freetown” families included the Martins, James’,
Moutons, Figaros and Cocos, names that still play a very prominent role in
Acadiana today.
With the
advent shortly after the Civil War of the white-sheeted riders known as the
Knights of the Klu Klux Klan and the Riders of the White Camelia, and with the
terror which followed the Klansman for all of the black community, the
"free men of color" brought their brethren together for the purpose
of forming a mutual defense against the Klan. To give impetus to their
cause they named their organization the "True Friends Society", a
group committed to the mutual defense of one another in the face of terrorism
by the Klansmen. Documentation reveals that the intelligence network of
the "True Friends Society" was frequently able to determine the
planned next strike of the Klan and circumvented these strikes by gathering at
the homestead of the black family to be targeted. Pitched battles with
pick-axes, shovels and sharpened farm implements as well as pistols and muskets
occurred for over a decade during this period and hastened the demise of the
Klan. Ultimately, the “True Friends Society” played a major role in
limiting Klan activity for the decades that followed in the area that
ultimately would come to be called “Acadiana”. As a direct result of this
historic stand, racial tension in southwest Louisiana was greatly reduced, with
many beneficial effects, including the admission of African-American students
at the local university, Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) in the mid
1940's. The significance of the admission of racial minorities into this
“white” university a decade before Brown vs. Board of Education (the
U.S. Supreme Court landmark case) cannot be overstated.
As the
original "free men of color" aged into the 1870's and 1880's, Klan
activity became very minimal and the bond of the "True Friends
Society" was no longer as imperative. During that time, the wives
and daughters of the original "free men of color" came to the fore
and slowly, over the course of several years, orchestrated a change in the fabric
of the Society from one of “mutual defense” to one of “public welfare”.
These wives and daughters of the "free men of color" attended the
sick, planned the celebrations and weddings and orchestrated the social agenda
of the African-American community in Lafayette. Ultimately, the
"True Friends Association" was chartered in 1883, and at a time when
the nation had no personal income tax for social and welfare programs, this
Association very well served those purposes for the African-American community
of Vermilionville. A segment of the membership of the Association,
looking forward to the last two decades of the 19th century and hoping that the
good life they sought would one day be theirs, formed a similar benevolent
group known as the "Good Hope Society". These two groups became
the leaders of the African-American community and its cultural well being into
the 20th century. To commemorate the founding of the "Good Hope
Society" they built their meeting place, Good Hope Hall, in 1902 at its
current location, the corner of Gordon and Stewart Streets in the Mouton
Addition. Originally built on Lot 361 of the "Mouton Addition",
the Hall was placed on property inherited by Mathilde Mouton directly from the
succession of Alexandre Mouton. While the historically significant
building is now popularly known as “Good Hope Hall”, it was known originally as
“True Friends Hall”, having been built originally by the True Friends
Association. The Association bought the lot on which they constructed
their building from Mathilde Mouton on July 2, 1902, for $250. The
Association went into debt to build the structure and to furnish it. On
July 2, 1904, the Association was reorganized and through their agent, Orther
C. Mouton purchased the lot and buildings, giving a mortgage on July 5, 1904,
in the amount of $1,200 on the property to Isaac Bendel. However, the
Association was unable to pay its debt, and on September 17, 1910, the property
was sold at public auction with Bendel buying the property. Bendel sold
the True Friends Hall on January 15, 1913, to the Good Hope Society for
$3,400. At the same time, this Society sold Lot No. 51 in the Second
Mouton Addition to Bendel for $200. The Good Hope Society was able to
retain the property for most of the twentieth century, until May 19, 1977, when
they sold it to Patrick Prudhomme for $22,000. Originally,
the building served as a meeting hall and a place for wedding receptions and
celebrations. It was also a place for religious worship and ultimately
became a Catholic Church. The wives and daughters of the original
"free men of color" perpetuated the benevolent causes of the
"Good Hope Society" in the Mouton Addition at a time when federal and
state financed assistance programs did not exist. As such, the families
in the Mouton Addition were close-knit and depended upon one another to an
extent, which was seldom seen in other communities in the South following the
Civil War. Good Hope Hall continued in these uses until it was partially
destroyed in the teen years of the twentieth century by a hurricane, which blew
a portion of the structure over. As originally built, Good Hope Hall had
been a two-story building, the top floor of which was destroyed by the
aforementioned hurricane. The "Good Hope Society" rebuilt Good
Hope Hall as a single story building on high brick piers, its current
composition today.
In the
roaring twenties and the depression of the thirties, Good Hope Hall became one
of the truly great jazz halls of America as all of the great jazz artists from
across the country played there regularly. Included in this list of
impressive figures in the early days of jazz were Louie Armstrong and Fats
Pinchon. It also was the center for orchestras and bands from all over
Louisiana, as well as out-of-state touring bands of great repute.
Tradition has it that whenever a dance was scheduled for Good Hope Hall that
evening, the trumpeter of the jazz band to play there would climb to the upper
gallery of the structure, blow his horn for several minutes and thereby nnounce
to the entire community in the downtown area some blocks away that things would
be lively that evening at Good Hope Hall. When those evenings came
around, the African-American community in the Mouton Addition entered their
meeting hall, Good Hope Hall, and enjoyed the jazz music in raucous dance and
merriment while many members of the Caucasian community gathered outside in the
streets to listen to the superb strands of jazz music filtering out from
within. Perhaps in all America, this was the only corner in the 1920's
and 1930's where African-Americans were the only ones permitted inside while
the white community was left out in the street. The building was truly a
"jazz mecca" for nearly twenty years, drawing both jazz groups and
orchestras and bands from all over Louisiana as well as out-of-state touring
bands. The building often saw "double-headed" sessions, with a
band playing at one end of the hall while another played the same tune at the
opposite end. Some of the spectators swore that music "rocked the
building". One of these bands, The Black Eagle Band
of Crowley, with Evan Thomas as trumpet player, would often play at Good Hope
Hall. George “Country-Boy” Benoit, a community resident who had moved to
"Freetown" from Long Plantation off what is now the Kaliste Saloom
Road area of Lafayette to become a barber in the city, recalled vividly that
Thomas in particular would get out on the upper gallery, raise his trumpet to
his lips and blow. "It could be heard all over town," Benoit
recalled, "and folks would know there'd be a dance that night".
Benoit ultimately set up his barber shop within the hall and operated there for
many years, until he moved across Stewart Street to set his shop up "on
the corner" where he operated it until his death at the age of
ninety-seven in 1989. At the end, he was still charging $2.50 for
haircuts he once gave for 25¢. The
tantalizing music of jazz musicians drew untold numbers of the community, both
black and white, to the hall to enjoy the entertainment for nearly two
decades. Among the area bands that played at Good Hope Hall were the
Victory Band of New Iberia, the Dawn Albert Orchestra of Charenton and the
Black Devils of Plaquemine. New Orleans jazz musicians and their bands
came to Lafayette to play on railroad excursions, when tickets were 50 cents
one way and one dollar for the round trip. The seventeen-piece New York
City band of Walter Bond played Good Hope Hall when they were on tour.
From Lafayette, they went to Georgia where all were burned to death in a
dancehall fire. Local historian L. C. Melchior recalled that this was the
band that had, for many years, backed up such national music figures as Fats
Waller, Ethel Waters, Nobel Sissle and Eubie Blake. Other bands that
played the Hall included McKinney's Cotton Pickers out of Detroit, the biggest
black band of the 1920's and 1930's, and Fats Pinchon from the New Orleans
Absinthe House. Not as well known at the time, but also a regular fixture
at Good Hope Hall was a young up and comer named Louie Armstrong. The use
of Good Hope Hall as an entertainment center declined in the late 1930's, when
"Economy Hall" was built on Washington Street for similar
purposes. Ironically, however, that building was razed while the edifice
it sought to replace, still stands and enjoys renewed life. Jazz
recitals at Good Hope Hall ended with the beginning of World War II and the
building sat dormant during the war years. Thereafter, it was converted
once again into a Catholic Church where Mass in the Mouton Addition was
preached each Sunday. The building was cared for by the various deacons
of the Freetown community, the great-grandchildren of the original "free
men of color". The neighborhood remained one of close-knit
friendship and acquaintance throughout the first half of the century. In the
early 1950's, Good Hope Hall ceased to function as St. Paul's Catholic Church
when the brick "Good Hope Chapel" was built directly behind it.
Good Hope Hall then functioned as a place for wedding receptions and continued
meetings of the "Good Hope Society". In the 1960's and 1970's,
the building served a combination of uses including the USL Community Theatre,
the Good Hope Printing Company and the Good Hope Cabinet & Carpentry
Company. In 1977 Patrick Prudhomme, a local businessman, who sought to
make it a community theater once again, purchased it. His efforts failed,
however, and in 1981 he sold the structure to a pair of young attorneys, Gary
Steckler and Glenn Armentor, who sought to make the building their law
office. It has thus been all things to the people of good hope, to
Vermilionville and to Lafayette: a pool hall, a barbershop, a saloon, a
dance hall, St. Paul's Chapel, a hospital, a site of weddings and family
gatherings, a print shop, a carpentry and furniture restoration shop, an art
studio, a vaudeville theater and the trial facility of lawyers. Today, Good Hope Hall represents the best
of both its storied past and its immensely hopeful future. One of
Lafayette's preeminent law firms has grown within its walls and expanded into a
major annex, historically designed to match the original building in both
materials and appearance, which now brings the building to nearly 11,000 square
feet. Manicured grounds, inlaid brick parking lots, wrought iron fencing
and professional landscaping have all added an ambiance that have
re-established Good Hope Hall to its former grandeur. The future holds
plans for expansion to previously unimagined proportions. Massive
additions to Good Hope Hall will triple its size by the early years of the 21st
century. A quadrangle-promenade green area enveloping the entire block
across Stewart Street from the Hall, replete with bricked walking paths, water
bodies, fountains, plantings indigenous to the area and raised staging areas
will serve as the site for a centrally located monument to the history and
achievements of the "free men of color", of Freetown and of Good Hope
Hall. The base of the monument will tell the entire history of the area,
reciting specific histories of community families. At thirty-seven feet
in height, the monument is projected to be one of the tallest in the South, and
is expected to become one of Lafayette's main tourist attractions after its
opens, as projected, in 2010. As important will be the large water
element and fountain fronting the monument, which will memorialize those tragic
African slaves lost at sea, as well as the inlaid brick pathway between Good
Hope Hall and the Freetown Monument, which will memorialize the journey of the
African slaves to their new home in America. Finally,
plans are in place for a third phase to be added to Good Hope Hall, which will
enclose the old building into a “horseshoe” shape that will encompass, at its
final completion, over twenty-five thousand square feet of professional
offices, sophisticated trial technology and planning areas, conference rooms
and libraries, multiple kitchens and common areas, soaring atriums and
balconies and additional highly landscaped grounds throughout the area. Long-term
plans also call for the construction of another complex on the block facing
Good Hope Hall, also in a “horseshoe” shape, similar in size and scope to the
original building, for use as growth area for the law firm, as well as offices
for court reporters, private investigators and other law-related
services. In honor of the “free men of color” this future edifice will
proudly bear the appellation “Freetown Hall”. BY: GLENN ARMENTOR HOME