Algiers, Louisiana
Encyclopedia
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. It is the portion of Orleans Parish on the West Bank of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
Algiers is also known as the 15th Ward, one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans
Wards of New Orleans
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana is divided into 17 wards. Politically, the wards are used in voting in elections, subdivided into precincts. Under various previous city charters of the 19th century, aldermen and later city council members were elected by ward. The city has not had officials...
.
History
Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, was granted a large tract of land on the West Bank of the river opposite New Orleans in 1719. This date is sometimes given as the year of the town's founding, making it one of the oldest neighborhoods in what is now New Orleans, but development as a town as opposed to a private plantationPlantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
did not actually occur until about 1800. The name is believed to have come from the proximity to the city as compared to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Another theory is that a soldier returning from fighting in Algeria decided it looked just like that country when viewed from a ship.
A powder magazine
Powder Magazine
Powder Magazine, Powder House, or Powderworks may refer to:* Gunpowder magazine*Magazine , the general term-in the United States:* Powder Magazine , listed on the NRHP in Alabama...
was built here for safety reasons and because it stood on higher ground. A slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
was also established and Algiers went by the name of Slaughterhouse Point for some time. With the importation of African slaves, Algiers was used as a holding area until those that survived the crossing recovered enough to be dispatched across the river to be sold. Algiers was to become a holding area for the Cajuns that survived the Grand Derangement
Great Upheaval
The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island...
, when the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
expelled them from Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. The oldest part of Algiers is Algiers Point
Algiers Point
Algiers Point is a location on the Lower Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. In river pilotage, Algiers Point is simply one of the many points of land around which the river flows—albeit a significant one...
, across the river from the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
.
The Duverjes built their plantation home in Algiers in about 1812. They would become the first family of Algiers and their home would later become the Algiers Courthouse. Algiers Point has been connected with the foot of Canal Street
Canal Street, New Orleans
Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...
across the river by the Canal Street Ferry
Canal Street Ferry
The Canal Street Ferry, also known as the Algiers Ferry, is a ferry across the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana, connecting the foot of Canal Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans with Algiers on the West Bank...
since 1827.
Part of the Battle of New Orleans (Jan 1, 1815) was fought on the West Bank in what is now Algiers. Original earthworks remain, marked with a historical marker on General Meyer Ave. in the Aurora Gardens neighborhood.
Much land in Algiers and elsewhere in south Louisiana was owned by John McDonogh
John McDonogh
John McDonogh was a United States entrepreneur and philanthropist, described as miserly, controversial, and eccentric. He is most famous for endowing public education in two major American cities—New Orleans and Baltimore.-Life and career:McDonogh was born in Baltimore and entered the...
, who was one of the world's largest private land owners until his death in 1850 when his estate was willed to public schools in Baltimore and New Orleans.
McDonogh's home was located on the river south of Algiers point, but the land has since been washed away. McDonogh's grave is in the McDonogh Cemetery in Gretna.
Algiers was incorporated as a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in 1840. Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
was an important industry here.
In the 1850s, Algiers became a major railroad center and eastern terminus of the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad
New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad
The New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad was chartered in 1852. Construction began at Algiers, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, in late 1852. By 1857, the track had reached Brashear on Berwick Bay, and this remained the end of the line for over 20 years...
. The Algiers Train Ferry carried passengers across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter landing at St. Anne St. to the railroad terminal. Later, the railroad yard at Algiers would be the eastern repair shop for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The SPRR shop employed 4000 and had the capability to build mechanical parts for steamships.
In 1870 it was annexed to the city as the 15th Ward, an arrangement which has remained although there have been repeated discussions of secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
.
In April 1862, during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, flames arose from the shipyards in Algiers as Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
officials destroyed property that might benefit the invading Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
troops. Historian John D. Winters
John D. Winters
John David Winters was a historian at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, best known for his definitive and award-winning study, The Civil War in Louisiana, still in print, published in 1963 and released in paperback in 1991.-Background:Winters was born to John David Winters, Sr...
, in his The Civil War in Louisiana (1963), notes that the New Orleans populace was "'amazed and could scarcely realize the awful fact, and ran hither and thither in speechless astonishment.' . . . Shocked out of their dumb disbelief, many people joined in the destruction. Cotton was rolled from the warehouses, ships loaded with produce were boarded, and fire was set to the lot. Crowds of the city poor broke open warehouses and carried away baskets, bags, and carts spilling over with rice, bacon, sugar, molasses, corn, and other foods. What they could not carry away they attempted to destroy by dumping in the river, burning, or throwing into the open gutters. A mob broke into the powder and gun factories in the Marine Hospital and carried away rifles and ammunition. The city was a frenzy of disorganized activity."
Until the latter 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
, large rail yards housed large amounts of freight and rolling stock, which was brought back and forth across the Mississippi River by barge. Then the Huey P. Long Bridge
Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
The Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is a cantilevered steel through truss bridge that carries a two-track railroad line over the Mississippi River at mile 106.1 with two lanes of US 90 on each side of the central tracks....
was built upriver at Bridge City
Bridge City, Louisiana
Bridge City is an unincorporated community in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was established in the 1930s during the construction of the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River. The town is located on the West Bank of the river. It is part of the New...
, Louisiana. The largest railroad presence was the Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
yard. That location is still known to Algerines as "the SP yard." For decades it was largely a vacant strip. Portions of the tract were redeveloped for housing in the early 21st century. In the yard's active days, a steam-powered Southern Pacific train ferry
Train ferry
A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...
brought railroad cars from there across the Mississippi River. The Algiers railyards were known for their ability to repair or create replacements for any part needed for any type of locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and mechanical parts for ships. A fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
destroyed most of the buildings in Algiers in 1895. Most of the gingerbread-fronted houses seen in the neighborhood today date from immediately after that fire.
In 1901 the U.S. Navy established a Naval Station in Algiers. From 1966 until 2009, the site was one of the two campuses of the Naval Support Activity New Orleans base. Now the shuttered facility's Westbank campus is being redeveloped as a Federal City.
For centuries, intensive settlement in Algiers extended little beyond Algiers Point. The completion of the GNO bridge across the Mississippi River in 1958 (now the Crescent City Connection
Crescent City Connection
The Crescent City Connection, abbreviated as CCC, refers to twin cantilever bridges that carry U.S. Route 90 Business over the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. They are tied as the fifth-longest cantilever bridges in the world...
) and the construction of Victory Drive (now General DeGaulle) and General Meyer Avenue made significant new development possible, and Algiers grew rapidly for the next twenty-five years.
William H. Seymour
William Henry Seymour was an American politician and amateur historian best-known for having written a history of Algiers, Louisiana....
, published in 1896. The book was republished in 1971 and has been referenced in New Orleans and Louisiana histories. An index of the book is on-line at the New Orleans Public Library
New Orleans Public Library
The New Orleans Public Library is the public library service of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-History:The system began in 1896 as the Fisk Free and Public Library in a building on Lafayette Square...
Web site.
Today
A number of New Orleans carnivalNew Orleans Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a Carnival celebration well-known throughout the world.The New Orleans Carnival season, with roots in preparing for the start of the Christian season of Lent, starts after Twelfth Night, on Epiphany . It is a season of parades, balls , and king cake parties...
krewe
Krewe
A krewe is an organization that puts on a parade and or a ball for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with New Orleans Mardi Gras, but is also used in other Carnival celebrations around the Gulf of Mexico, such as the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, and...
s have their "dens" (warehouses where their floats are constructed and stored) in Algiers.
Algiers Point was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1978 and designated a local historic district in 1994.
People from Algiers have traditionally been known as "Algerines". Noted Algerines have included jazz musicians Jimmy Palao
Jimmy Palao
James "Jimmy" Palao, also James Florestan Palao February 19, 1879 - January 8, 1925 was the Leader of the Original Creole Orchestra and it is believed that he was the first to coin the term Jazz...
, Red Allen
Red Allen
Henry James "Red" Allen was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.-Life and career:...
and Emmett Hardy
Emmett Hardy
Emmett Louis Hardy was an early jazz cornet player and one of the best regarded New Orleans musicians of his generation....
, and R&B singer Clarence "Frogman" Henry.
Algiers is home to many churches. There are numerous Catholic and Baptist congregations. The oldest Lutheran congregation, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, was founded in 1875. Trinity's steeple was blown off by Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in 2005. A Catholic congregation, as well as Methodist and Episcopalian congregations, are all on the Historic Register of New Orleans, and some Algiers churches are listed on the National Historic Landmark lists.
There are two branches of the New Orleans Public Library
New Orleans Public Library
The New Orleans Public Library is the public library service of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-History:The system began in 1896 as the Fisk Free and Public Library in a building on Lafayette Square...
located in Algiers. The Cita Dennis Hubbell Branch was built in 1907 as the Pelican Avenue Branch, one of three Carnegie libraries in New Orleans. Following years of neglect and hurricane damage, the library's roof was found to be in imminent danger of collapse and the library was closed indefinitely on May 24, 2008. As of 2010, the Hubbell Branch is temporarily located at the Algiers Courthouse Carriage House a few blocks away. The Algiers Regional Branch, two miles away, is a larger library built in 1966. This library was damaged extensively by Katrina, and remains closed, although there is a temporary library set up in a trailer in the parking lot.
The area upriver from the Point was historically known as McDonoghville (which extended into part of what is now Gretna
Gretna, Louisiana
The city of Gretna is the parish seat of Jefferson Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. Gretna is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just east and across the river from uptown New Orleans. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area...
). Downriver from the Point is the West Bank portion of Naval Support Activity New Orleans, the largest military installation in the Greater New Orleans area. Further downriver from this is the neighborhood of Aurora
Aurora, New Orleans
Aurora is a community of Algiers in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is primarily divided into three areas: Walnut Bend, New Aurora, and Huntlee Village....
, and further still, the English Turn area, which was not substantially developed until the late 20th century.
On September 26, 2005, Algiers became the first major section of New Orleans to be reopened to residents after Hurricane Katrina. Although a number of buildings suffered wind damage from the storm, Algiers escaped the flooding which affected most of the East Bank.
Primary and secondary schools
Algiers is zoned to schools in the New Orleans Public SchoolsNew Orleans Public Schools
New Orleans Public Schools is a public school system that serves all of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Schools within the system are governed by a multitude of entities, including the Orleans Parish School Board , which directly administers 4 schools and has granted charters to another 12,...
. The district has its headquarters in the Westbank area of Algiers.
For the 2006-2007 school year, parents have a choice between the following NOPS operated schools:
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary School (K-8)
- Bethune Elementary School (K-8)
- McMain High School
- McDonogh 35 High School
In addition, students may attend schools operated by the Algiers Charter Schools Association
Algiers Charter Schools Association
Algiers Charter Schools Association is a group of charter schools operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, several schools in the Algiers area were transferred from the New Orleans Public Schools to the ACSA.- Schools :The schools operated by the...
(http://www.algierscharterschools.org/acsa.htm)
The schools include:
- Martin Behrman Elementary School (K-8)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School (K-8)
- William J. Fischer Elementary School (K-8)
- Alice M. Harte Elementary School (K-8)
- McDonogh #32 Elementary School (K-8)
- Harriet R. Tubman Elementary School (K-8)
- Edna Karr High SchoolEdna Karr High SchoolEdna Karr High School is a public, open enrollment, coeducational charter school serving students from Orleans Parish in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The school is a college preparatory high school and is a part of the Algiers Charter Schools Association and the New Orleans Public School System...
- O. Perry Walker High School
- L.B Landry High School
Colleges:
Our Lady of Holy Cross