CAROLA LILLIE HARTLEY
Publisher and Contributing Writer
Photographs: Carola Lillie Hartley Collection
Featured Photograph: After five years of planning and raising the necessary funds, the new Lacombe Hotel, shown in the first photograph, was constructed on the northeast corner of Court and Bellevue streets in Opelousas in 1909. In the 1920s, the hotel was sold, and the name changed to the James Hotel, named for the deceased young grandson of Adam Budd the new owner. The James Hotel operated in Opelousas until the 1950s when it was demolished so that the new Planters Bank could be constructed on that corner. To the right of the hotel is the Littell Home that was also demolished in the 1950 so the property could be used for Planter’s Bank parking.
Second Photograph: the office of the new Lacombe Hotel on October 27, 1915. Pictured at the hotel desk in this photograph is manager G. B. Cretin on the right and clerk Eddie Durio on the left. The new hotel was just a few doors down from the old Lacombe Hotel that stood on Court Street for over a century.
