Andrew Querbes

Andrew C. Querbes, Sr. (July 10, 1864 – May 24, 1939), was a banker, planter, and civic figure who served as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1902 to 1906.

Biography

Querbes was born in New Orleans, the son of Antoine Querbes and the former Louise Alterieu.^[1] He was educated in New Orleans public schools and then the private Harvey School in Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish. In 1886, Querbes moved to Shreveport, where he entered the retail grocery business. He expanded into the wholesale grocery operation in 1896.^[2][3] Querbes' wholesale operation was among the largest in North Louisiana. By 1906, Querbes had left the grocery business to become vice president of the First National Bank of Shreveport. In 1909, he was elevated to the bank presidency.^[1]

As mayor, Querbes emphasized law enforcement and reform of municipal finances. Prior to his mayoralty service, which consisted of two two-year terms,^[1] Quebes was from 1896-1900 a member of the Caddo Parish Police Jury,^[2] now known as the Caddo Parish Commission, the parish governing body.^[4]

Querbes was a cotton planter and president of the interest group, the Louisiana Cotton Growers Association. He was also president of the Shreveport Ice Delivery Company. He was a director of Shreveport Mutual Building and Loan Association, the Louisiana State Fair,^[1] the City Savings Bank and Trust Company, the International Banking Corporation,^[2] the Continental Flat Glass Company, and the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Rotary International.

Querbes was a Roman Catholic.^[1] On February 12, 1889, he married the former Alexandrine Ricou. They had three sons: Andrew Querbes, Jr. (1889–1964), Justin R. Querbes, and Randolph A. Querbes.^[1][5]

Querbes Park, off Fern Avenue in Shreveport, is named in his honor.

In 1927, Querbes and Shreveport Times publisher John D. Ewing co-chaired a committee of prominent Shreveport citizens that began correspondence with the United States Department of War in Washington D. C. to sell Shreveport as the sight for a planned Army airfield that would serve as an expansion of the Third Attack Group, then located in Galveston, Texas. The group originally proposed land adjacent to Cross Lake but this location was deemed unsuitable by the War Department. Instead, approval was given for unincorporated land located in nearby Bossier Parish, which the City of Shreveport annexed through a municipal bond and donated to the federal government for construction of the facility, now known as Barksdale Air Force Base.^[6]

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