Cook Home

Cook Home. . Commissioned by William Sherman Cook; built by J. D. Bragg in 1904 1905. Mr. Cook was born in Simcoe Province, Ontario, Canada. He bought this property in 1901, originally a tract of 10 acres 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. Family lore has it that it was based on a home Mr. Cook visited while in San Francisco. A civil engineer, Mr. Cook arrived in Alexandria in 1892 to assist with the development of the Kansas City, Watkins and Gulf Railway, which later became Iron Mountain, and still later part of the Missouri Pacific. He was also involved in the gravel and timber industries. He was active in politics, and member of the Shriners, Masons, Rotary Club, and Chamber of Commerce. He was named Postmaster of Alexandria by Warren G Harding in 1922. The. Cook House entered the National Register of Historic, Places in 1979, and is listed in many architecture books This plaque commemorates 100 years of continuous family ownership, and in 2004, five generations of community service to Central Louisiana. , In memoriam: William Sherman Cook, 1865-1923, and his wife Mary Anne, nee O'Shee, 1872-1962