Memories of Alexandria Friends
Joseph Baillio

Special thanks to Joseph Baillio for providing the photograph and memories shown below. His comments...

"I grew up in Alexandria. Members of the Baillio clan were among the first settlers of Natchitoches and Rapides Parishes.

I lived a lot with my grapndparents, John Adolphus and Clarice Le Blanc Engstrom, first on Marye Street and then in a rather large house called the "Pecan Orchard" at Willow Glen, on the road to Baton Rouge. It is now some kind of horrible truck stop (an absolute desecration of a property that was once a show place), but I have good photographs of it (see below). My grandfather's store was located at 1407-09 Lee Street.

I remember most of the places you can see on this site. My old schools -- St Francis Cabrini and Menard Memorial (class of 1962) -- don't exist anymore (as I knew them).

My ancestors are buried in the Rapides and Greenwood cemeteries.

I still remember Alexandria with fondness, even though I left it in 1964. But when I was last there in 1999 for a Baillio Family reunion, I found that most places I knew had changed almost beyond recognition.

Shown below is the "Pecan Orchard" at Willow Glen in 1951. It was such an attractive place, designed in 1949 for my grandparents, John Adolphus and Clarice LeBlanc Engstrom. The house was surrounded by groves of pecan trees."

click to enlarge