About the Town of Jena
Prior to the adoption of Jena’s Vision, the town’s future planning status was in question. The town’s original modest urban character and organization was planned around its 100 year old three block town center on Oak Street and US Highway 84. But the normal pressures of modern development had chipped away at the town center. The plan for widening US 84, El Camino Corridor, as a bypass around Jena, was a threat to the town’s economy and viability. The mayor and town council recognized the need for strategic planning in Jena.
The public was involved throughout the process of creating the growth plan through a series of town meetings and planning charettes. Jena’s Vision was forged through the public meetings. It is reported that Jena had 35% of its populace involved in the charettes, expressing their ideas about their town’s future growth in a cooperative forum.
The creation of Jena's Vision was supported by these efforts:
- The science of traffic engineering
- Local demographic consideration
- Economic analysis and future projections
- Proven principles of urban design
- Strategic site planning
- Preservation of existing greenbelts
- Efforts to maintain cultural norms and preserve Jena’s rural character
- Encouragement to in-fill within the existing fabric of the town
- Encouragement of historical preservation
Jena’s Vision was adopted January 26th, 2010. The plan includes a chronology of steps for phased implementation. The result of the entire process is that the public has sense of authorship and final plan is professionally and practically sound. As a planning tool it has played a key role in producing exceptional results.
Our History
The site where Jena stands today began to attract settlers in 1802. The Hemphills family entered a considerable block of land and settled about two miles below the present town of Jena. Hemps Creek and post office were named after this family. This beautiful ever-running creek had fertile bottom and hammock lands for cultivation and was an excellent range for both cattle and hogs, with wild game and fish being very abundant.
Later, in the middle 1850s, Benjamin Baker, assisted by his father, a native of Pennsylvania, built a watermill on Hemps Creek, about three miles below the present town of Jena. The mill was equipped to make corn meal and to gin cotton. This area soon became a favorite trading stop for the area farmers, and was the site of two general stores and a post office.
Hemps Creek post office was established in the late 1850s with Isaac L. Baker as the first postmaster. The mail rider boarded with Mr. Baker and made alternate weekly trips to Harrisonburg and Alexandria on horseback. In 1869, the first school house was built, and in 1892, the Jena Seminary opened, marking the beginning of secondary education in what is now LaSalle Parish. Mr. James Forsythe who came to Hemps Creek in 1861 having subsequently served with distinction in the Confederate Army returned in 1865 and established his home here. Being an educated man and having fine qualities of leadership, he was chosen as teacher of Hemps Creek School, a position he held until 1871.
In the year of 1871, it was requested from the post office department that “Creek” and “Bayou” be removed from the names of all post offices. Mr. Andrew Forsythe visiting his brother, James Forsythe from Jena, Illinois suggested “Jena, his hometown, which was named for Jena, Germany. Mr. James Forsythe submitted this name to the post office department and it was accepted. Thus, the name Jena came from Germany by way of Illinois.
The Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad operated its first train into Jena on December 31, 1893, and on May 1, 1904, the first passenger train arrived. A small hotel was operated nearby, and in 1905, the “Jena Times” newspaper was founded.
On October 2, 1918, Mrs. Lula V. Coleman was made a Deputy Sheriff. It was her opinion that she was the first female sheriff in the United States. On March 28, 1920, she was appointed to head the town administration as mayor, by Governor John M. Parker. Mrs. Coleman has the distinction of being the only woman ever to serve as mayor of Jena, and was the first female to hold the office of mayor in Louisiana and possibly even the United States.
