Slidell, named for John Slidell, one of the Confederate diplomats in the Trent Affair of 1861, was established to supply goods and services to nearby farmers. Its post office began in 1884. Garrett Fletcher, who donated land for a cemetery and church, gave lots to nearby businesses that moved there in 1885, including twenty-two-year-old Dr. Drury Young Stem's medical office and drugstore. In 1893 George W. Durham gave land for the public square and the first school building, and in 1895 Nathaniel Pruett began the telephone system. Today Slidell serves a farm and ranch area.