On October 6, 1981 our post membership moved into a new meeting hall, which still serves as the Legion Post’s home today. A photo of the Post hall is on display with this article.
When the Post commenced activities in 1919, the members initially met at the meeting venue of Knights of Columbus Council 2012 from Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Jennings. The venue was located on the 2nd floor of the Roberts Building, situated at the intersection of Main Street and Academy Street (where Jeff Davis Bank is currently located). The first floor of the building was a dry goods store, the only one of its kind in the city of Jennings at that time. The building was owned by Leo J. Nohe, Louis Z. Toups, Earl Evans and Israel L. Hebert. Nohe, Toups and Hebert are charter members of KC Council 2012. They are also founding members of American Legion Post 19.
In the 1920’s, Post 19 built a wood framed building as their first meeting hall. The hall was located at 111 N. Market Street in Jennings. According to George and Norman Briggs and Richard Hebert (son of Post 19 founding member Israel L. Hebert), that first American Legion hall became a popular location to host large events in the city of Jennings. Our Lady Help of Christians Parish used the hall for many years to host their annual church bazaars.
In the late 1950’s, the Post membership decided that the wood frame American Legion hall needed to be replaced. Through many Post fundraisers over the years, the Post had earned the money to purchase 6 acres of land on U. S. Highway 90, just east of Jennings. They wanted to build their new Post hall there. Charles Holston of Holston Well Service offered to provide the funding to build a new hall in exchange for the 6 acres which the Post owned.
During the Post Commander tenure of Darrell Landry (1979-81), plans were made to demolish the old hall and use the funds from the sale of the land for construction of the new hall. This was done, and the new American Legion hall was completed, dedicated and occupied during the Post Commander tenure of John W. “Johnny” Landry, Jr. (1981-83) in the Fall of 1981. The new hall (which is still in use) was built on the same property as the old hall, 111 N. Market Street in Jennings. The photo above shows the front of the current hall. At the time of the construction of the new hall, Saday Manuel was the Finance-Secretary. The Building Committee consisted of Douglas Daigle (Chairman), William Broussard, Dr. H. F. Guilbeau, Hazard Guillot, Lisso Lawrence and Benjamin F. Miller.
In 2002, Henry LeBlanc donated a flag pole and an outdoor light that is used to illuminate the Post’s flag and flag pole at night.
During the Post Commander tenure of John W. Louviere, Jr. (2009-11) Post members added a room to the hall in order to accommodate Unit 19 of the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary. Douglas Daigle, who was the Post Treasurer at that time, played a major role in the construction of this annex to the hall.
In 2014 the Post Building Committee, made up at that time of Charles Burrell, Hilton LaSage and Darrell Landry, along with Treasurer James "Jimmy" Richert, Jr., planned and accomplished significant repairs to the Post Home. Hilton LaSage was the American Legion Hall Manager for over 20 years, and he orchestrated the maintenance, renting and clean-up of the hall, and he did a commendable job in this important task. When Hilton passed away in 2018 Charles Burrell took over as Building Manager and Jimmy Richert assumed the duties for renting the hall.
