Beauregard Town has been a witness to history along the Mississippi River since its founding in 1806. From Louisiana Statehood in 1812, to the Union Occupation in 1862, to the revitalization efforts downtown Baton Rouge has experienced since the 1980s, Beauregard Town has been here to see it all through.
Not all history though causes headlines but each molds and shapes our neighborhood into what it is today. Case in point, in 1933, the property that now houses a lovely Bungalow at 634 St. Joseph Street used be a neighborhood service station called Pelican Service Station. At the time, the address was 670 St. Joseph Street. The Cowan Family ran the station. Their names were Samuel Trotter Cowan Sr., his wife Margaret or Marie. Their son Samuel T. Cowan Jr. was a student at LSU in 1937. In Beauregard Town we love to brag about how centrally connected and livable our neighborhood is.
This family embodied the “live, work, walk” idea as they resided just blocks from their station at 756 Government Street. So, I guess, what is old is new, and what is new is old.
Above is an image of their station advertised in the June 25th 1933 issue of the Baton Rouge Advocate. Also, at this link you can find an aerial image of downtown Baton Rouge in 1967. If you’re familiar with your Beauregard Town geography you’ll see the property and the Service Station still standing in the mid-low right hand corner of the image. You can find similar images on the Louisiana Digital Library if you are interested to see more.
