Death of Mayor-President Jesse Webb, Jr. In Tragedy April 28, 1956 — 70 Years Ago

Woody Jenkins editor, Central City News

On April 28, 1956 — almost exactly 70 years ago — Baton Rouge suffered a great tragedy.  The young Mayor-President, Jesse Webb, Jr., only 32, was killed in a plane crash in Michigan while on city business.  

Handsome and articulate, Webb was elected at age 29.  He was the first city leader to hold the title of Mayor-President and the youngest ever to hold that office.

A World War II veteran, he epitomized a generation who returned from the war with lots of hopes and dreams.

He was the only Mayor-President to have graduated from Istrouma High School.  He and his family lived on Clinton Avenue near HiNabor off Winbourne Avenue.  When urged to moved to a more upscale neighborhood, he refused.

Viewed as a conservative, he was nevertheless a moderate on civil rights and almost single-handedly brought an end to the black boycott of the Baton Rouge Bus Company.

The oft-repeated narrative in Baton Rouge usually omits Webb’s pivotal role.  In an exclusive interview with the Central City News before he died, retired District Judge Lewis Doherty, who served on the City Council when Jesse Webb was Mayor-President, described what happened this way.

“Several key black and white leaders met in the Mayor’s office and he listened carefully to everyone. Then he matter of factly said, ‘I’ve heard everyone. Some whites want to sit with whites, some blacks want to sit with blacks, and some don’t care. Here’s what we’re going to do. From now on, the whites can sit on the front row and the blacks can sit on the back row.  Everybody else can sit wherever you please. That’s how it’s going to be.’ And that’s how it was!”

A few days after the Mayor-President’s death, the City Council named his wife, Mary Estus Jones Webb, as Mayor-President.  She became the first woman Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish and served with dignity and integrity for the rest of her husband’s term.

The Central City News will be writing more about Jesse and Mary Webb in the months ahead.