Background
Youree was born in 1843 in Lafayette County in north central Missouri, to P. E. Youree and the former M. M. Zimmerman. He was locally educated and received mercantile training in his father"s store.
Youree was born in 1843 in Lafayette County in north central Missouri, to P. E. Youree and the former M. M. Zimmerman. He was locally educated and received mercantile training in his father"s store.
He was president of the Louisiana Bankers Association from 1908 to 1909. He served with Missouri Confederate forces during the American Civil War and was wounded at Shiloh, a bloody battle fought near the Tennessee River in southern Tennessee. He rose to the rank of captain of Slayback"s Missouri Rifles and surrendered his company at Shreveport.
He commissioned the Confederate monument at Greenwood Cemetery on Stoner Avenue in honor of his comrades who are interred there.
After the war, he decided to settle in Shreveport, the seat of government of Caddo Parish, where he opened a mercantile and real estate business. Foreign a time he owned the Shreveport Street Railway and was president of the Shreveport Waterworks Company.
In 1888, Youree was elected president of the Merchants and Farmers Bank, and in 1891, he became president of the Commercial National Bank, a position which he held until his death. He served as president of the Louisiana Bankers Association from 1908-1909.
In 1910 he directed the construction of Shreveport"s first skyscraper, the ten-story Commercial National Bank Building, for its headquarters.
He also financed the construction of his massive Youree Hotel, later called the Washington Youree Hotel, in downtown Shreveport. In 1933, the Hotel was operated by Niagara Falls businessman Frank A. Dudley and the United Hotels Company. In 1954, the top of the hotel became the headquarters of television station KSLA, the Columbia Broadcasting System affiliate in Shreveport.
At the time of his passing, Youree"s wealth was estimated at $2 million.
Youree"s former bank became a part of AmSouth Bancorporation of Birmingham, Alabama, which has now merged with Regions Financial Corporation, also of Birmingham. Youree was also active in local politics.
A Democrat, he was a member from 1884 to 1900 of the Caddo Parish Police Jury (renamed in 1984 the Caddo Parish Commission), some of that tenure as the police jury president His home on Fairfield Avenue, called "Youreeka," was a Shreveport showplace for many years.
Youree Drive, a major thoroughfare in Shreveport, was named for Captain Youree. Youree Middle School bears his name. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Youree, (Betty) was a longtime president of the Shreveport Chapter #237, United Daughters of the Confederacy. A chapter of the Children of the Confederacy was named in her honor.
Captain Youree was a member of the General Leroy Stafford Camp #3, United Confederate Veterans in Shreveport. She was the daughter of Colonel West. T. Scott, a member of the Texas State Senate, whose family founded Scottsville. Youree was a member of the First Methodist Church of Shreveport.
