W. Matt Lowe

William Matt Lowe, known as W. Matt Lowe (January 1, 1872–March 4, 1955) was a merchant and public official in the city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. During World War I and its aftermath, Lowe served two terms from 1916-1920 as mayor of Minden. Prior to his death of a lengthy illness in a Shreveport hospital, he served on the Webster Parish Police Jury, the parish governing commission, from 1940-1954.^[1]

In June 1916, Lowe succeeded the three-term Aubrey Drake Turner (1877-1953) as mayor.^[2] During Lowe's first term as mayor, the city in 1917 acquired its municipal generating station after a fire swept through the former Minden Lumber Company, the prior owner of the facility.^[3]Minden is one of twenty municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance the costs of government.^[4]

His son-in-law, Leland G. Mims (1901–1979)^[5] also a Minden businessman, served on the police jury from 1953–1976, including a long stint as jury president from 1956–1973 and as president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana from 1965 to 1967.^[6]

Lowe was a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and the First Methodist Church of Minden. His wife, the former Clara Hodges (1880–1954), preceded her husband in death by fewer than three months. The couple had a son, the late Fred M. Lowe of Shreveport, and two daughters, Mrs. G.B. Spencer of Star City in southern Arkansas, and Rubye Lowe Mims (1904–1975)^[5] of Minden. The Lowes and Mimses are interred at Minden Cemetery.^[7]

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