Lunchtime Lagniappe: The Jewish Experience in Natchitoches, with Kevin Shannahan

Please join us as Kevin Shannahan discusses the Jewish Experience in Natchitoches. The Jewish cemetery on Natchitoches’ MLK St. is the only remaining evidence of a small, but influential, Jewish community that once made its home in our parish. From 1852 to 1910, a little over 50 Jews came to Natchitoches Parish from France and Eastern Europe to escape the often deadly persecution they faced in their home countries. They built new lives and left a legacy that can still be seen today.

The story of Natchitoches’ Jewish community is a little known, but fascinating facet of our area’s heritage.  Leopold Caspari who arrived from France in 1849, became a successful businessman and planter. As a state senator, he was instrumental in the founding of what would become Northwestern State University in 1884. The Kaffie brothers who came Germany in 1865 and 1870 started as peddlers carrying their wares on their backs and went on to build a “General Mercantile” that still stands today.