Home Care In Dubach, LA

DUBACH, LA (5/23/20)– As storms rolled through early this morning, one church had to say goodbye to it’s building as it caught fire. It’s a call no pastor wants to get, but pastor Greg Tipton got it. His church, Mineral Springs Baptist Church, burned to the ground.

“It looks like there was an electrical line that had fallen across the top of the church. I don’t really know all the ends and outs of it, but it looks like that is probably what happened,” said Pastor Tipton.

The church has been part of the Dubach community for years. For some members, this is the only church they’ve known.

“Our family grew up here so it’s kind of like where we are from, it’s part of us, almost like our home. Maybe the church burned but with the people, we can still worship,” said Gracie Duke, church members.

Firefighters from all over worked tirelessly to do everything they could to save the building, luckily no one was inside. Pastor Tipton still can’t believe this happened.

“I think myself and certainly all the people that have been here at this church their whole life, we all can’t believe this happened. It just seems like a bad dream,” said Tipton.

Mineral Springs’ church members say the people make up the church, not the building. So they will hold on to their memories from that building.

“It’s very upsetting, like all the memories in there. I play piano and I personally practiced in there, we got baptized in there, so it’s really close to our hearts,” said Duke.

Though the fire destroyed pretty much everything, Tipton says they will rebuild.

“This is a bad thing, but we serve a God that is able to take bad things and make something good out of it. So I don’t know what the future holds for us, but we have faith in The Lord that that’s what is going to happen,” said Tipton.

He asks for prayers…more than anything.

Pastor Tipton says the church will be meeting in the parking lot at 10-45 in the morning to pray. He encourages anyone to come out and join.

DUBACH, La. (KNOE) - Some who have lived in Dubach might remember the Gem Theater in downtown. Dubach native Eric Hanna recently purchased the location. Hanna is working to get started on the renovations as quickly as possible.

“The plan is to try to restore it as much as is practical to the way it was in the era that it was built, and we’re not 1,000% sure at this point when it was built,” said Hanna.

Hanna has ties to the theater, even though he did not grow up when it was open. His brother Billy was a projectionist, and his sister Patsy worked concessions there during the theater’s hay days.

There is still a question about when the theater was built, one record shows 1947, but an old Ruston newspaper has another.

“That ad was in 1937 and said the new Wahoo theater,” Hanna said.

Another local, Glen Neaville, was a projectionist when the theater was shut down. He has seen photos from Hanna of the old carbon arc projectors that are still upstairs with the splicing table. He said it looked as if history stood still when he left the room for the last time.

Autoplay

“You’d turn the power on, and then you touch them, “said Neaville. ”That would spark it originally. And gives out a light that you can’t believe I’m a super bright light. We had some of the top movies ever made, were in about that time.”

The theater even had an influence on businesses in downtown Dubach.

“It was happening on Saturday night. I mean, it would be packed, and all of a sudden, the and the town the merchants stayed opened late,” said Neaville.

The cleanup is going to take a bit of time.

“It’s going to be a lengthy process. We’re going to have to separate the trash from the treasure,” said Hanna. “And I’m so thankful for that because you saw the inside of this. We are going to need an army of volunteers to clean this up.”

Hanna said they are looking for information and interior photos of the theater to help with the process.

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— Caleb Daniel

Leader file photo

The Louisiana Chicken Festival in Dubach is on the horizon at the end of the month, and some application deadlines for pageant contestants, craft vendors and more are coming up even sooner. Pictured above is a file photo of Olivia Williams in the 2022 drumstick eating contest.

Photo courtesy of DRABO

This year's Chicken Festival quilt includes the design of every single T-shirt from past festivals. Raffle tickets to win the quilt are a dollar apiece and available at Dubach Town Hall, First Guaranty Bank and Bagwell's Beauty Shop.

The town of Dubach’s signature event will strut, cackle and crow its way through downtown at the end of this month.

The Louisiana Chicken Festival is returning for its 34th year on Sept. 29-30, and there are several key deadlines and opportunities coming up for those who wish to participate.

Put on by the Dubach Restoration and Beautification Organization (DRABO) as its main fundraiser for town projects since 1989, the Louisiana Chicken Festival has missed only one year in 2020 and is ready to be the center of fun and excitement for the area once again.

Coming up first, applications to take part in the Chicken Festival Pageant on Sept. 23 are due Thursday.

The pageant features age divisions from newborn up to 12 years old.

“It’s fun and helps our community,” DRABO President Renee Vowles said. “The entry fees go back towards beautification projects in our community. And it’s a confidence booster for the little girls.”

The application can be found on the Louisiana Chicken Festival Facebook page and turned in at DRABO’s new office on 182 Main Street in Dubach from 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or mailed to DRABO at P.O. Box 305, Dubach, LA 71235.

Depending on sign-ups the deadline may be extended, Vowles said, but participants applicants shouldn’t wait.

For questions on the pageant, call Abbi Monk at 318-957-9392, Vowles at 318-222-1126 or Renee Simpson at 318-237-1993.

The festival itself is still accepting applications for craft vendors to get a space downtown and sell their wares during the festivities.

Vowles said 10 food vendors are already signed up, which is more than plenty for an event of that size, so only craft vendors are being accepted at this time. Many spots are available.

The craft vendor application is on the Louisiana Chicken Festival Facebook page, and the deadline to apply is Sept. 22, a week before the event begins.

DRABO is seeking additional business sponsors for the event, and it also has special sponsorship packages for qualified candidates in the Oct. 14 elections.

For those interested in the history of the Chicken Festival, DRABO is selling raffle tickets for an original, one-of-a-kind Louisiana Chicken Festival quilt this year.

“We did a T-shirt quilt this year, made of every single Tshirt design in Chicken Festival history,” Vowles said.

Yes, all 34 years of Chicken Festival history are preserved on this quilt, and raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Tickets are available at Dubach Town Hall, First Guaranty Bank and Bagwell’s Beauty Shop.

Speaking of T- shirts, this year’s shirts are also available for purchase at those same locations.

A design contest held over the summer resulted in Cody Simpson’s winning design not only becoming the T- shirt, but also setting the tone for the theme of the festival as a whole, as organizers decided to go with the “ Strut, Cackle & Crow” theme included on the shirt.

Last but not least, this year’s Chicken Festival Parade is expected to be extra special, as the grand marshal will be the late Gina Stokes, DRABO member and key festival organizer for many years, who passed away in April.

A banner made in Stokes’ honor will be displayed during the parade, and a dedication will be held for her.

“We lost a big part of DRABO when we lost her,” Vowles said.

DRABO’s new office on 182 Main Street will be open 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday to field any questions about the festivities.

A two-story Queen Anne and Colonial Revival house in Lincoln Parish was once home to the founder of the town of Dubach.

The Fred B. Dubach House, located at 7793 Annie Lee Street, served as the residence of the founder and namesake of Dubach, a small town in Lincoln Parish in north central Louisiana.

Although there were settlers in the Dubach area as early as the late 1840s, according to National Register records, the town's origins date to the arrival of the Arkansas Southern Railway in 1898. With the coming of the railroad, the way was opened for the development of the lumber industry.

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In 1899, Fred B. Dubach, a lumberman from St. Louis, Missouri, arrived in the area and started the Dubach Lumber Company. He later built his home in 1900 and shortly thereafter, built a lumber mill across the road. The lumber mill was regarded as the largest building in town and visually dominated the townscape.

The house has a central hall plan, essentially two rooms deep, with a small single-story rear wing. According to National Register records, architecturally, the house equals to a two-story, greatly enlarged version of an ordinary Queen Anne Revival cottage – a cottage with a forward-facing gabled pavilion on one side and a gallery taking up the rest of the façade.

In the case of the Dubach Home, the asymmetrical front gallery has taken the form of a monumental four-column Doric portico with a full entablature and a balustrade. The house also features small balustraded side wings which extend the ground story rooms and the high pyramid roof is surmounted by a balustraded deck.

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The one remaining chimney has a corbel top and inset panels. For the most part, the exterior surface is described as relatively plain with narrow gauge clapboards and slight corner pilasters. The front of the forward-facing gable is completely louvered. Most of the two over two plate glass windows are set in groups of two.

The interior of the home is described as "relatively plain." The single remaining mantel is golden oak and at the base of the staircase is a quarter sunburst motif.

The Dubach Lumber Company contributed to the growth and development of what in 1901 was chartered as the town of Dubach. In 1906, Dubach sold his mill and home to T.L. James and returned to St. Louis. James lived in the home and operated the mill until 1921 when he relocated to Ruston and closed the mill.

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Between 1921 and 1929, the home was rented by lumberman B.H. Rainwater. In 1936, G.L. Trammell bought the home and lived there until 1970. It remained vacant for a few until Trammell's son Alan purchased the home and restored it.

In 1999, the house was purchased by banker John C. Cole and his wife, Jennie.

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