Louisiana's Hidden Gems: The Old Lecompte High School

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Louisiana's Hidden Gems: The Old Lecompte High School

Just a five minute walk from my house is the large three-story red brick structure that once was the High School in Lecompte, Louisiana. The neo-classical style building was designed by architect Scott Yeager Jr. and constructed in 1924. For forty-six years the high school educated the youth of central Louisiana. In 1970 the high school was closed in favor of a new school complex just south of town off Highway 71.

Today the old school building houses both the Lecompte Library on the first floor and the Lecompte Museum on the upper two floors. On the grounds in front of the structure is The Veterans War Memorial which is carved out of a 12 ton piece of Georgia Granite and features over a thousand names etched into its surface. Along with the granite memorial is an retired M60 Tank that was donated to the city of Lecompte in 2001 by the Army National Guard.

There is also a mysterious set of gigantic metal wheels (actually gears I suppose) with no plaque or signage to explain just what they are or where they came from. I can only extrapolate that they were once part of the great complex of locks that were once in use on the nearby Bayou Boeuf.

Being a ten-year-old boy trapped in middle-aged mans body my favorite thing about the Old Lecompte High School is the M60 Tank. I can only imagine the hours that my younger self would have spent playing war on it.

Now I just sit and stare at it admiring its historical significance.

Speaking of which:

The M60 is one of the world’s most successful main battle tanks with 15,000 having been produced and serving in the armies of 22 countries.

The tank has provided proven battlefield performance over four decades and has been continuously advanced and upgraded with advanced weapon control, ammunition, applique armour and increasingly powerful engines. The M60 series main battle tanks of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the US were deployed in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 during the Gulf Crisis.

M60 tanks entered service with the US Army in 1960. The M60A1 with a new turret, thicker armour and a new ammunition stowage system, was manufactured from 1962 to 1980. The development of the M60A2 with a new turret fitted with a 152mm gun and missile launcher was halted and effort was directed to the development and production of the highly successful M60A3 tank, which incorporated improvements to the gunfire control and entered service in 1978. - Army Technology

You may or may not be aware that the town of Lecompte (pronounced Lecount) was named after a race horse that was was raised on a farm just south of town. The original name of the town was Smith's Landing which originated in the days when cotton and other goods were shipped up Bayou Boeuf by barge and loaded onto trains for shipment to nearby Alexandria and then on to New Orleans via the Red River.

I've often contended that the town's name be changed back to Smith's Landing. It just sounds better than Lecompte. Besides I don't think old Lecompte won his race anyway.

Update - Here is some clarification on a couple of items in this piece from Ron Schneider via the Facebook group Abandoned Louisiana:

"The huge iron gears are from the old sugar mill at Meeker. When they were gutting the interior of the mill in the mid-1980s this set of gears was hauled from the mill and set on the grounds at LHS. It took a house mover to move them because they were so heavy. There was another smaller set of gears set in front of Walnut Grove plantation near Cheneyville. The name of the race horse was "Lecomte" Thanks for the very nice article on the Old School and all the photos."