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Roy-Miller Building
Roy-Miller Building

Last Remnants of DeSiard Street, Monroe, LA

Although I was in Louisiana for Grambling State University homecoming 2011, the nearest hotel I could get a room in was at Monroe, Louisiana, 30 miles away. When I got to Monroe, I came upon this old, seemingly-historic building at 10th and DeSiard. Signs indicated that it once housed the 10th Street Social Club, the Standard Life Insurance Company of Louisiana, the Monroe Free Press (an African-American newspaper), Eddie’s Place and Hilliard’s Cafe. A sign at the entrance to the 10th Street Social Club stated that any women with weapons would be turned over to the police! The 1965 Monroe City Directory indicated that the building was the Roy-Miller Building, and that it was the site of a number of important businesses, clubs and professional offices for the African-American community in Monroe. It is a tragedy that it has been allowed to deteriorate.