new orleans’ 9th ward is marked by disaster and resiliency....fats domino’s home and recording...
TRANSCRIPT
300NE W ORLE ANS
TRICENTENNIAL
1718 ~ 2018
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THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE PHOTOS
The largest of the city’s wards, the 9th Ward encompasses all of eastern New Or-leans from Franklin, Almonaster and Peo-ple’s avenues to the city’s eastern boundaries.
After Hurricane Katrina, much of the Low-er 9th Ward was inundated by floodwaters. Some sections have yet to be reestablished. But even before the 2005 hurricane, the area repeatedly faced hardship.
Much of the ward is low-lying, swampy, and before pumps were introduced to the city, flooded easily. But because the land was cheap, African-Americans and immigrants from Ire-land, Germany and Italy moved there as early as the 1800s. The area was devastated by a hurricane in 1915 and Hurricane Betsy in 1965 before Hurricane Katrina. In the 1920s, the area was split in half by the Industrial Canal. The 9th Ward was home to the Florida and Desire housing projects and the Agriculture Street Landfill, later a federal Superfund site.
Still, the population grew.In about 1880, the Holy Cross neighborhood
near the Mississippi River and the St. Bernard
Parish line began being developed. Jackson Barracks was established in the ward to house Army troops, and Holy Cross school was es-tablished on a riverfront plantation in 1895.
Some residents had truck farms that sup-plied fresh produce to New Orleans. The area was home to Lincoln Beach, an amuse-ment park for African-Americans, and to fish camps in the area known as Little Woods.
The area was also home to some of the city’s most famous celebrities including Fats Domino, Kermit Ruffins and Marshall Faulk.
In 1859, the Congregation of Holy Cross bought the riverfront Reynes Farm, a plantation, for an orphanage. The site became home to Holy Cross school.
Jackson Barracks was built in response to the War of 1812.
According to census figures, the population of the Lower 9th Ward dropped from 14,000 in 2000 to 2,800 in 2010.
Fats Domino’s home and recording studio on Caffin Avenue
After Hurri-cane Katrina, actor Brad Pitt founded the Make it Right Founda-tion, which is building 150 sustainable homes in the Lower 9th Ward.
There were still fish camps in Little Woods in eastern New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina.
The Orleans Levee Board purchased Lincoln Beach, 2.3 acres on Lake Pontchartrain in 1939, as a swimming area for black residents.
New Orleans’ 9th Ward is marked by disaster and resiliency.
Holy Cross School
was established in the 9th Ward
in 1849.
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