Historic Louisiana

VILLAGE OF
COLLINSTON
✧
Above: Morehouse Parish Library -
Collinston Branch and Business Complex.
Below: Reily Memorial United Methodist
Church with white steeple and wellmanicured
lawn.
HISTORIC LOUISIANA
134
There was a lawless wilderness in Morehouse
Parish’s Ward Eight in the early 1800s. Back
then it was called Gum Swamp. It was a vast
expanse of bogs and bayous, thickly timbered,
cluttered with heavy cane breaks and completely
devoid of roads of any sort. A forbidding and
treacherous place it was, not only for the
difficult terrain but also for the constant danger
from outlaws. People were left to provide for
their own defense and the wise wayfarer carried
his gun ready to use at a moments notice. Be
that as it may, it was quite renown in its day for
its excellent bear hunting opportunities.
The first to brave a settlement in this forbidding
swamp were intrepid pioneers from
East Feliciana Parish. They trekked into the
bogs in 1850 and began to scratch out a living,
shaping the land into rustic farms. Hope of
relief from this hard life came in the late
1880s. A determined gentleman, Samuel P.
Collins arrived to begin construction of the
railroad. At that time it was known as Keller’s
Station. Travel in and out of the area was
unpredictable at best. Often, in the winter
months, the roads were simply impassable.
Collins, undaunted by the difficult terrain,
completed his task in the year 1890. To honor
him, Keller’s Station took his name and
became Collins. The railroad was a boon to the
inhabitants, allowing easier access to the area,
opening it up to expansion. At last, it began to
prosper and in 1894, Collins updated its name
to Collinston. The Village of Collinston was
officially incorporated on March 17, 1904.
Today, Collinston is a fine “picture-postcard”
town replete with well-manicured lawns
and churches with white steeples. High pine
ridges bound her to the northwest and lush,
productive fields of cotton, rice, soybeans and
corn line the main road into town. And with a
population of three hundred and sixty-five,
everyone is truly everyone else’s neighbor. And
it shows! There is a real spirit of belonging
here, perhaps inherited from her early inhabitants,
those hardy pioneers that found they
had to rely on one another for survival. This
spirit manifests itself in most delightful ways.
For instance, Collinston entered the Cleanest
City Contest in 1982. The entire community
turned out en masse, pitched in, and took first
place in District and then went on to take
State. Since that time, Collinston has entered
some eighteen times, winning District sixteen
times and State eleven. Wouldn’t those hardy
pioneers of yesterday be proud to see what
their children have made of old ‘Gum Swamp’?