Changes

==Public service==

==Public service==

Connell Fort was a deputy in the second term of Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] Daniel Webster Pratt from 1896 to 1900.<ref>List of Sheriffs of Webster Parish, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury publication.</ref> From 1900 to 1908, Fort, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], was a member of the Minden City Council, on which he pushed for the establishment of concrete sidewalks.<ref name=fortdeath/> In 1917, while Fort was still on the citiy council, E. L. Stewart, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Webster Parish, Stewart's fellow attorney and brother, Daniel Webster Stewart Sr. (1857–1935), and Alberta Glass (1834-1937), a former soldier of the [[Confederate Army]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Glass&GSfn=Alberta&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15088401&df=all&|title=Alberta Glass|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> were sued by the Town of Minden for non-payment of the expense for the mandatory construction of sidewalks abutting their properties, based on a 1902 state law, which the plaintiffs challenged unsuccessfully on double appeal to the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Shreveport ant the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. The three did not request the sidewalks and sought to shield themselves from the associated costs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPpMqyLOd74C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=E.+L.+Stewart+of+Minden&source=bl&ots=2x4-t4jOLJ&sig=8VPLP4PLvENu27u4wgsHWzVJ6pI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GzADVeCHGcW-ggS2iIHYBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=E.%20L.%20Stewart%20of%20Minden&f=false|publisher=Southern Reporter, Vol. 77|pages=118–121|title=Town of Minden v. Stewart et al|date=November 26, 1917|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref>

Connell Fort was a deputy in the second term of Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] Daniel Webster Pratt from 1896 to 1900.<ref>List of Sheriffs of Webster Parish, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury publication.</ref> From 1900 to 1908, Fort, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], was a member of the Minden City Council, on which he pushed for the establishment of concrete sidewalks.<ref name=fortdeath/> In 1917, while Fort was still on the citiy council, E. L. Stewart, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Webster Parish, Stewart's fellow attorney and brother, Daniel Webster Stewart Sr. (1857–1935), and Alberta Glass (1834-1937), a former [[Confederate]] Army soldier,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Glass&GSfn=Alberta&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15088401&df=all&|title=Alberta Glass|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> were sued by the Town of Minden for non-payment of the expense for the mandatory construction of sidewalks abutting their properties, based on a 1902 state law, which the plaintiffs challenged unsuccessfully on double appeal to the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Shreveport ant the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. The three did not request the sidewalks and sought to shield themselves from the associated costs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPpMqyLOd74C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=E.+L.+Stewart+of+Minden&source=bl&ots=2x4-t4jOLJ&sig=8VPLP4PLvENu27u4wgsHWzVJ6pI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GzADVeCHGcW-ggS2iIHYBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=E.%20L.%20Stewart%20of%20Minden&f=false|publisher=Southern Reporter, Vol. 77|pages=118–121|title=Town of Minden v. Stewart et al|date=November 26, 1917|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1908, Fort and later Mayor J. Frank Colbert managed the successful gubernatorial campaign in Webster Parish of Jared Young Sanders Sr., of St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Governor Sanders named Fort as the conservation agent for northwestern Louisiana. Sanders left office in 1912, and Fort returned to the Minden City Council for another eight years. In 1914, Fort joined Colbert in the newspaper business in Minden. During Fort's second council stint, he pushed for the paving of the main business district of Minden.<ref name=fortdeath>"Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," ''The Webster Signal-Tribune'', March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6.</ref>

In 1908, Fort and later Mayor J. Frank Colbert managed the successful gubernatorial campaign in Webster Parish of Jared Young Sanders Sr., of St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Governor Sanders named Fort as the conservation agent for northwestern Louisiana. Sanders left office in 1912, and Fort returned to the Minden City Council for another eight years. In 1914, Fort joined Colbert in the newspaper business in Minden. During Fort's second council stint, he pushed for the paving of the main business district of Minden.<ref name=fortdeath>"Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," ''The Webster Signal-Tribune'', March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6.</ref>

During the first term of Mayor W. Matt Lowe, councilman Fort supported the purchase of the municipal generating station after a fire in 1917 swept through the Minden Lumber Company and the former Minden Electric Light and Power Company, the previous owner of the station.<ref>Marilyn Miller, ''Sons of Darkness Sons of Light'' (Many, [[Louisiana]]: Sweet Dreams Publishing Co., 2000), p. 177, {{ISBN|1-893693-09-0}}</ref> Minden is one of a limited number of municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance some of the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

During the first term of Mayor W. Matt Lowe, councilman Fort supported the purchase of the municipal generating station after a fire in 1917 swept through the Minden Lumber Company and the former Minden Electric Light and Power Company, the previous owner of the station.<ref>Marilyn Miller, ''Sons of Darkness Sons of Light'' (Many, [[Louisiana]]: Sweet Dreams Publishing Co., 2000), p. 177, {{ISBN|1-893693-09-0}}</ref> Minden is one of a limited number of municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance some of the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

In 1922, Fort was elected to the first of his two consecutive two-year terms as mayor to succeed Mayor [[J. Berry Sandefur]]. Mayor Fort worked to bring to Minden the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway shop facility from its former location in Stamps in southwestern [[Arkansas]]. The city paved ten miles in concrete, and efforts were made to rid Minden of [[mosquito]]es.<ref name=fortdeath/> [[Natural gas]] lines were laid. A bond issue financed the establishment of the city sewerage system. Modern fire-fighting equipment was also purchased during Fort's tenure.<ref name=fortdeath/>

In 1922, Fort was elected to the first of his two consecutive two-year terms as mayor to succeed Mayor J. Berry Sandefur. Mayor Fort worked to bring to Minden the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway shop facility from its former location in Stamps in southwestern [[Arkansas]]. The city paved ten miles in concrete, and efforts were made to rid Minden of [[mosquito]]es.<ref name=fortdeath/> [[Natural gas]] lines were laid. A bond issue financed the establishment of the city sewerage system. Modern fire-fighting equipment was also purchased during Fort's tenure.<ref name=fortdeath/>

 

 

In 1926, Fort was unseated in his bid for a third term by 23-year-old attorney [[Robert F. Kennon]], who became the youngest mayor in the state. A native of Dubberly in south Webster Parish and the son of a downtown Minden grocer, Kennon did not seek reelection in 1928<ref>"Robert F. Kennon Elected Youngest Mayor in State", ''Webster Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, 1926.</ref> but was instead elected as [[district attorney]] in 1930, [[judge]] in 1940, and governor in 1952.

In 1926, Fort was unseated in his bid for a third term by 23-year-old attorney [[Robert F. Kennon]], who became the youngest mayor in the state. A native of Dubberly in south Webster Parish and the son of a downtown Minden grocer, Kennon did not seek reelection in 1928<ref>"Robert F. Kennon Elected Youngest Mayor in State", ''Webster Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, 1926.</ref> but was instead elected as [[district attorney]] in 1930, [[judge]] in 1940, and governor in 1952.