Cook Home

William Sherman Cook commissioned this house, and J. D. Bragg built it in 1904 1905. Born in Simcoe Province, Ontario, Canada, Cook bought the property in 1901 as a 10-acre tract bordered by Monroe, Florence, Olive, and Cook Avenue for $1,700. It is the only fully developed example of residential Queen Anne Revival architecture in Alexandria, and family lore holds that it was based on a home Cook visited in San Francisco. A civil engineer, Cook came to Alexandria in 1892 to assist with development of the Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railway, which later became Iron Mountain and later part of the Missouri Pacific. He was also involved in the gravel and timber industries, was active in politics, and belonged to the Shriners, Masons, Rotary Club, and Chamber of Commerce. Warren G. Harding named him postmaster of Alexandria in 1922. The house entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and by 2004 it had remained in the family for 100 continuous years and reflected five generations of community service to Central Louisiana. William Sherman Cook lived from 1865 to 1923, and his wife Mary Anne, née O'Shee, from 1872 to 1962.

Alexandria, Louisiana · United States