Dennis Freeman

Harold Dennis Freeman (April 23, 1940 - November 23, 2007), known as Dennis Freeman, was the mayor of Logansport, a town adjacent to the Sabine River in DeSoto Parish in northwestern Louisiana from 1984 until his death. His contributions were particularly significant considering the otherwise limited role of a small-town mayor. For some sixteen years, he worked patiently with highway officials in Louisiana and Texas to construct a new border bridge over the Sabine River, a project nearing fruition. Freeman also fought to keep the pending Interstate 69 route in western Louisiana closer to Logansport. He helped to establish the first fire and ambulance districts in DeSoto Parish.
Steve Stephens of Logansport said that his friend "did a magnificent job and will be sorely missed. Dennis understood problems and knew how to get things done in government. His death is a loss for this community and this area." Near the end of his life as he fought cancer, Freeman was also attempting to mitigate the closure of a Georgia Pacific plywood plant, the largest employer in Logansport. He worked with state and local agencies to help displaced workers and to procure solutions to the economic gap created from the loss of the plant.
Early years, education, civic leadership
Freeman was the youngest of six sons born to L.L. Freeman and Britt Annie Freeman in tiny Joaquin, located in Shelby County in east Texas across the Louisiana line from Logansport. He graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and earned his livelihood for nearly forty years as an independent insurance agent. As Logansport mayor, he worked to procure grants for water, streets, sanitary sewers, parks and local government operations. He was an officer of the Louisiana Municipal Association and a board member of the Sabine River Authority. He was a director for the Bank of Logansport. Had Freeman been elected, he would not have lived to have taken the seat on January 14, 2008.
In 2004, Freeman was unopposed for his sixth term as mayor. In his last contested election in 2000, he narrowly defeated a fellow Republican Joe C. Liles, 303 votes (51 percent) to 295 (49 percent). Having won his first three terms as a Democrat, Freeman switched to the GOP and secured his fourth term in the 1996 general election over Democrat Andrew D. McGlathery, Jr., 437 (62 percent) to 271 (38 percent). He was within thirteen months of completing an unprecedented sixth mayoral term.
Freeman's legacy
Former Mayor Harold Cornett of Mansfield, the seat of DeSoto Parish, recalls his former colleague as a "hard worker" who was well thought of in the community and throughout the state. "He was a great leader who never said 'no' to responsibility. He was just a good mayor, and Logansport, the state, and I will certainly miss him," said Cornett, who, as an honorary pallbearer, joined the mayors of Mansfield, Grand Cane, Stonewall, and Natchitoches as well as other elected officials and parish residents at Freeman's funeral. succeeded her husband as mayor. She is listed among the state and local officials who have endorsed the reelection in 2014 of Democrat U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. Freeman's grandson, Thomas "Bryce" Alger was chairman of the DeSoto Parish Democratic Executive Committee from 2012 to 2016.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu