The History Doctor column has appeared in The Forum for several years and I have been (and still am) honored to be part of this great publication. This is a good time to reflect on the column as part of this major anniversary issue. When The Forum initially approached me about doing a history column, I thought it would be fun and I wanted the column to be a method to illustrate to the general reading public that history is not boring and not simply a string of dates on which events occurred. The concept of readers seeking answers to questions of interest to them is a bonus. This format keeps the content fresh.

Readers’ questions often amaze me. They come from folks in many occupations with varied backgrounds and educational levels. Many of the questions are spurred by conversations with their friends. Others come from long memories or beliefs. Unlike a classroom setting, in which specific questions arise from the course material, this column is like working on a high wire with no net. I love that.

Over the years, questions have ranged from histories of buildings to locations of airports, names of neighborhoods, steamboat wrecks, antebellum plantations, and building remnants that have no perceived use, to the locations of ghost towns and old post offices. Perhaps my favorites concern the Red River and its tributaries and life in nineteenth century northwestern Louisiana. I recall one column that has spurred further interest, additional columns, and even public lectures in and outside the classroom. The subject concerned named islands in the Red River and why we refer to some areas as islands, even though they are not. The reader was interested in Anderson Island and Shreve Island. How many times do people drive along East Kings Highway and see the Duck Pond. When you realize that you are looking at the Red River, although in smaller width, as it stood before Henry Shreve moved the channel, it appears in new light. Looking the east is truly Shreve, or Shreve’s Island. A whole chain of man-made (or manhandled) islands exists up and down the Red River. Henry Shreve created most of them. I received numerous questions as follow-ups and requests to speak about these engineering feats. Occasionally, someone will ask me about that column as if it had run last month.

Another Red River column that sparked quite of bit of interest was on Wright Island and how it almost became Shreveport, and perhaps, should have been. Hundreds pass it each day, but rarely do they see it. Located on and to the west of Clyde Fant Memorial Parkway the island still retains some of its water boundaries. It is easily seen on maps and there is a nice development sign facing that roadway. The reader wanted to know more about the island’s history. The story involved business decisions, skull-duggery, a massive engineering, and labor project, and, finally, the location of Shreveport where downtown is located today rather than further to the south of Stoner Avenue.

I know the History Doctor column has succeeded when someone stops me in a store or in a public place and wants to know more or tells me that they never considered the subject pondered. History is a gift given to all of us. It is a gift best shared and I can think of no other place better to share it than in The Forum.

Dr. Gary Joiner is the Leonard and Mary Anne Selber Professor of History at LSUS, where he is also director of the Red River Regional Studies Center. Questions for “The History Doctor” may be addressed to editor@theforumnews.com.