Perry Keith

Perry Polk Keith Sr. (October 20, 1847 – February 6, 1935), was a planter, developer, and member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who was the co-founder and namesake of the unincorporated community of Keithville outside Shreveport in Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana.

Keithville came into existence when two railroads met on Keith properties in the early 1880s, the Texas and Pacific (T&P) and the Houston-Shreveport, later part of the Southern Pacific.

Background

Keith was born near Macon, Georgia but settled in Caddo Parish when he was three months old with his parents, Henry David Keith and the former Mary Jones. On February 23, 1871, he married the former Narcissa Miller of Caddo Parish, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. W. Miller.

Political career

A Democrat, Keith served in the state house from 1912 to 1928. In his first term from 1912 to 1916, he served alongside David B. Samuel, later a long-term Shreveport city judge, and Lee Emmett Thomas, the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Caddo Parish and later from 1922 to 1930 the mayor of Shreveport.

As a legislator, the taciturn Keith is believed to have made no speeches on the House floor during his entire tenure. Instead he became a "cue giver" whose judgment affected the votes of many of his colleagues on controversial issues. As chairman of the House Finance Committee during the administration of Governor John M. Parker from 1920 to 1924, Keith worked to maintain state finances on a sound footing and to treat all state agencies and commissions with fairness in regard to budgetary constraints. Keith was also active in the Masonic lodge, the Shriners, and Woodmen of the World.

Keith died at the age of eighty-seven after an illness of more than three months. Death came in the same modest house in which he had lived since 1854, when he was seven years of age. Services were held at the Keith residence, with ministers from Shreveport and Grand Cane officiating. Interment was at Keithville Cemetery.