L-H Printing celebrates a century, and has even more history

The L-H Printing Co. is celebrating 100 years of being in business in Morgan City. However, the family who owns the business can claim a deeper history in the area.
Ancestors of the present owners of L-H, Dr. William Howard Gray and his son, William Bailey Gray, arrived in Louisiana as members of the 26th Massachusetts Infantry of the Union Army in 1862.
Dr. Gray was, according to his own Civil War diary, “present for the bombarding of Confederate Forts Jackson and St. Philip,” which led to the surrender of the city of New Orleans to the Union Army.
Dr. Gray was stationed in the New Orleans Military Hospital but writes in his diary that he “saw action at Lafourche Crossing near Thibodaux and spent time in Brashear City.”
In December of 1863, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler appointed him as  assistant surgeon in the U.S. 1st Colored Calvary. We know from his journal that he participated in the battles that took place in Virginia known as the Peninsula Campaign.
In 1864, Dr. Gray writes, “Last night, the great bulk of the troops disappeared to attack Petersburg, but instead of going there, they traveled up the York River to affect a junction with Grant.”
His son, Bailey Gray, also mustered into the 1st U.S. Colored Calvary in 1864, becoming a first
lieutenant before he took part in the siege of Fort Wagner “leading the charge that captured the fort.” According to Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, he also commanded one of the boats that made the attack on Fort Sumter in 1863.
In 1868, Dr. Gray returned to Louisiana, becoming executive officer of the Marine Hospital in New Orleans. Following this, he was hired as superintendent of the Freedmen’s Orphan Home in Baldwin. In 1874, minutes of the Morgan City Council show him serving on the town council.
The 1878 yellow fever outbreak prompted the City Council to establish a Board of Health, and Dr. Gray served on this board. The epidemic killed over 100 citizens, but it is said that Dr. Gray “was ever among the people during this time of sickness, sorrow, and death.”
Although Gray’s son, Bailey, had taken up an acting career on The Cotton Blossom riverboat, he returned to Morgan City to aid his father during the crisis. It was soon after this that he began his printing career.
In 1879, William Bailey Gray established Gray’s Printing House, and in 1891, he was publishing The Morgan City Free Press newspaper along with The Commonwealth, The Independent Democrat, and The Rural Topics.
The family continued in the printing business with Bailey’s grandson, Leonard Gray, purchasing the L-H Printing Co. in 1924. The 1939 photo was taken in the printing shop that was originally located in the first block of Railroad Avenue from the Front Street.
In the 1950s, Leonard and wife Della built the mid-century modern building at 205 Railroad where the business is now located. Each worked in the business until well in their 80s.
Their children, Leroy Gray and Nelwyn Robison, have also been employed at L-H along with Nelwyn’s husband, Lige Robison, who introduced the office supply department.
Through the years, many of Gray’s 16 grandchildren have worked in the business, and today one member of each family, Gray and Robison, continues in the tradition of five generations of their family.