St. Francis Xavier Cathedral is a historic Catholic church in downtown Alexandria. Built in 1899, it is a striking example of Gothic architecture. It is part of a complex that consists of the church rectory and the St. Francis Xavier Academy building. The church features a tall, 135-foot clock tower topped with crenelations and four small corner towers, lancet windows with tracery, and rose windows. The academy building, which was erected in 1897, is impressive as well. It was designed in the Beaux Arts style and features arched windows, a gambrel roof, porch, pilasters topped with decorative capitals, and ornate dormers on the roof that have Corinthian pilasters. The rectory is a two-story structure that resembles a bungalow.
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Constructed in 1950, Emmanuel Baptist Church offers an example of Gothic Revival architecture in Alexandria and features a grand entrance consisting of a large, pointed arch made in ornate cast stone and a rose window; decorative buttresses; a bell tower with Tudor-style doorway, double-pointed arch windows with tracery, and tall, thin openings; and stained glass windows. The congregation itself was established in 1881. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
Hotel Bentley, also known as “The Crown Jewel of Cenla” is a historic hotel located in Alexandria, Louisiana. Over 100 years old, it several famous individuals have stayed here including John Wayne and Roy Rogers. Joseph Bentley built the hotel in 1907 amd otl officially opened on August 10, 1908. In 1933, an eight-story building was added, which increased the number of rooms to 80. The hotel was a meeting place for army commanders during World War II, and a WWII museum is now in the hotel’s lobby. The Bentley was closed by the late 1960s and reopened in the early 1980s. Afterward, it was sold in the late 1990s and closed in 2004. It only recently reopened in 2014. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a fine example of Renaissance architecture.
The Alexandria Museum of Art is the cultural center of Alexandria. Its mission is to bring art education to the community through outreach programs and exhibitions. Its collection contains hundreds of works—paintings, photographs, ceramics, prints, sculptures, works on paper, and textiles— created by Louisiana and Southern artists as well as those impacted by the South. The museum is housed in a building consisting of the former Rapides Bank and Trust Company building and a modern addition built in 1998. The old bank is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Arna Wendall Bontemps was born in 1902 in Alexandria, Louisiana. He was a graduate of of Pacific Union College in California, where he had moved during childhood. Bontemps also taught at Harlem Academy in New York. He would become a pivotal figure and poet during the African American literary movement, the Harlem Renaissance. He was a widely celebrated writer, publishing 25 books, which included novels, children’s books, biographies, histories, poetry and play collections.
Founded in the early 1970s, the Louisiana History Museum collects, presents, and interprets the history of central Louisiana and the rest of the state. It is housed in the former Alexandria Library, which was built in 1907 with a financial gifts from Andrew Carnegie and local philanthropist S.S. Bryan. Its collections and permanent and changing exhibits explore numerous topics including Native American history and culture, the Colonial Period, the American Revolution, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, and Louisiana geography, politics, and agriculture. The museum contains one of the best historical artifact collections in the state, including thousands of photographs and a collection of vintage postcards. The building also houses the Alexandria Genealogical Library.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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This short walk through the heart of Alexandria LA and includes several downtown landmarks and museums. The tour starts at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral and then moves on to Emmanuel Baptist Church, Hotel Bentley, the Alexandria Museum of Art, Arna Bontemps African American Museum and the local Louisiana History museum.
