Algiers, New Orleans

Coordinates: 29°55′30″N 90°00′50″W / 29.92500°N 90.01389°W / 29.92500; -90.01389
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Algiers
15th Ward
CDT)
Area code504

Algiers (

Orleans Parish community located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Algiers is known as the 15th Ward, one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans.[1] It was once home to many jazz musicians[2][3] and is also the second oldest neighborhood in the city.[4]

History

Early settlement

Algiers was established in 1719 as a plantation, not a neighborhood. Originally called the "King's Plantation," it was first used as the location for the city's powder magazine, a holding area for the newly arrived enslaved Africans. Decades later, it became a port call for the displaced Cajuns.

Developed as a town by Barthelemy Duverjé, Algiers expanded due mainly to the shipbuilding and repair industries of the dry docks and the extensive railroad yards. A large part of the town surrounding the Courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1895 but rose again like a Phoenix from the ashes.

In 1870, Algiers was annexed to the city as the 15th Ward, an arrangement which has remained despite repeated discussions of

steam-powered Southern Pacific train ferry brought railroad cars from there across the Mississippi River.[citation needed
]

20th Century

In 1901, the U.S. Navy established a naval station in Algiers. During the early 20th Century, Algiers was segregated due to the

Orleans Parrish in 1870, it became the largest populated black community on the West bank of the Mississippi River. Many Jazz artists such as Kid Thomas Valentine, Red Allen, and Papa Celestin all grew up in McDonoghville section in Algiers during the 1910s.[5]
Some of the early black neighborhoods included Riverview, Tunisbourg McCLendonville, LeBeoufville, Hendeeville, Oakdale, and Whitney. In 1938,
L.B. Landry High School opened as the first all-black school in Algiers. The school was named after Dr. Lord Beaconsfield Landry, who lived in the area and died in 1934. It was also one of the first schools in New Orleans to serve African-Americans.[6]

Algiers Point sign

Around the 1930s and early 1940s, several other schools and neighborhoods were built for blacks, including Peter S. Lawton School and Oakdale. Oakdale once stood on the edge of

Jefferson Parish and stretched from Whitney Avenue to the Mississippi River
. It was destroyed in the late 1950s to make room for the Greater New Orleans Bridge. Newton Street became the heart of Algiers's black community as it was once filled with ballrooms, saloons, and
Rhythm & Blues shows and great singers such as Ray Charles, Son House, and B. B. King, who all played there. Most of the jazz venues in Algiers closed by the 1970s.[7]

Algiers slowly declined after suburban neighborhoods were developed and expanded along Gen. Meyer and Gen. De Gaulle. Many white families from the older parts of the city began moving into the newly built sections of Algiers.

Jefferson Parish
.

Jazz culture

Algiers was home to various jazz pioneers such as Red Allen, Peter Bocage, George Lewis, Papa Celestin, Kid Thomas Valentine and many others. Jazz musicians of the 1920s referred to Algiers as the "Brooklyn of the South", the latter for its proximity to New Orleans as compared to New York and Brooklyn, both separated by a river. Algiers also has a long history of Brass bands. The most notable is the Algiers Brass Band, one of the oldest traditional brass bands still active in the city. There were several social halls, including Algiers Masonic Hall, the Elks Hall, and the Ladies of Hope Benevolent Hall, where early jazz was played. There is some jazz parading in the neighborhood today.[9][10][11]

Demographics

Algiers is predominantly

African-Americans make up 73.6. Native Americans and Alaskan Natives are 0.2 per cent of the population. Hawaiians barely registered, and Latino
/as make up 4.3 percent. The average household size is 2.68; the average family size is 3.41. The total number of housing units in Algiers was 12,351; 83.9 per cent were occupied, and 16.1 vacant. 40.6 of those units are owned by homeowners, while 59.4 are rented. Socially speaking, 72.3% are high school graduates, and 14.3% hold at least a bachelor's degree. The married population is 41.2 percent male, and 33.2 are female. Families that are below the poverty level are at 30.3%; individuals below the poverty level are 35.3%.

Crime

Algiers lies within

Orleans Parish. The 4th District violent crime rate in low-income neighborhoods has been high since the late 1980s. These areas include the notorious Fischer Projects, Whitney, and Behrman Heights neighborhoods.[13]

Between 1987 and 1988, 4th District's violent crime rate doubled with the biggest increase in gun homicides.

NOPD officer Gregory Newport in 1980.[15][16]
Throughout the 1990s, homicides were the only violent crime that remained high in the district, reaching 29 in 1995.[17]

In 2015, the district tallied 25 homicides, 26 in 2021. In 2022, the district was second in homicides behind Eastern New Orleans, with 38 homicides.[18]

In 2017, 4th district teamed with the NOPD's street-gang unit to quell gun battles spurred by conflicts between neighborhood groups. The groups were formed of loose associations among people, not stable enough to be considered traditional gangs, and had "some very petty, petty beefs that led to very violent encounters," he said. To reduce crime, law enforcement installed 13 crime surveillance cameras, including ten fixed cameras and three mobile cameras, along with five license-plate readers, including three fixed readers and two mobile readers.[19][20]

Neighborhoods

See also: Neighborhoods in New Orleans

Algiers contains many neighborhoods, such as

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Algiers is zoned to schools in the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB), also known as New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS). The district has its headquarters in the Westbank area of Algiers.[21]

The schools include:

  • Martin Behrman Elementary School (K-8)- Algiers Point
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School (K-8)- Tall Timbers/Brechtel
  • William J. Fischer Elementary School (K-8)- Fischer Development
  • McDonogh #32 Elementary School (K-8)- McDonogh
  • L.B. Landry High School
    - Old Algiers
  • O.P. Walker High School
    - Old Algiers

The InspireNola Charter Schools operate

Crescent City Schools include

  • Harriet Tubman Charter Elementary School
  • Paul B Habans Elementary School

One campus of the International School of Louisiana (ISL) is in Algiers.[22]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ "New Orleans Business Alliance - Living in New Orleans Neighborhoods". Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  2. ^ "Interview of musician Tom Albert" (PDF). Music Rising at Tulane University. September 25, 1959. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  3. ^ "Hogan Jazz Archive Photography Collection at Tulane University" (PDF). Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. 1927. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  4. ^ Campanella, Richard (August 8, 2017). "How Algiers grudgingly became part of New Orleans". Nola.com. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  5. ^ "Brass Band Jazz, Part Three". Offbeat.com.
  6. ^ "L. B. Landry High School, New Orleans, Louisiana". African American High Schools in Louisiana Before 1970. June 24, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  7. ^ "History". Oldalgiersmainstreet.org.
  8. ^ "Landry-Walker merger faces opposition". The Advocate. December 15, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  9. ^ "History of Jazz in Algiers Louisiana". Algiers Historical Society.
  10. ^ "The Brooklyn of the South" (DOC). View.officeapps.live.com. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  11. ^ "The Best of the West". Bestofneworlenas.com. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  12. ^ "Algiers New Orleans, LA 70114, Neighborhood Profile". Neighborhoodscout.com.
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085812/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=TP&p_theme=tp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=ALGIERS%20RESIDENTS%20ORGANIZE%20ON%20CRIME%20AND%20date(10/15/1990%20to%2010/19/1990)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=10/15/1990%20to%2010/19/1990)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(ALGIERS%20RESIDENTS%20ORGANIZE%20ON%20CRIME)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:D&xcal_ranksort=4&xcal_useweights=yes
  14. ^ https://nola.newsbank.com/search?date_from=April+22%2C+1988&date_to=&text=Algiers+crime++rate+&content_added=&pub%5B%5D=1223BCE5B718A166
  15. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  16. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  17. ^ https://issuu.com/selarchives/docs/a_tale_.docx
  18. ^ "New Orleans plagued with several homicides over the Holiday weekend". www.wwltv.com. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  19. ^ "Algiers residents express fears, hear crime-fighting plans at community meeting". Nola.com.
  20. ^ "New crime cameras flashing across New Orleans". Wwltv.com. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  21. New Orleans Public Schools
    . Retrieved on December 15, 2009.
  22. Times Picayune
    . November 23, 2012. Retrieved on May 18, 2014.
  23. ^ "Oscar". December 16, 2020.
  24. ^ "Lester Young: From Woodville to Algiers to Minneapolis to Kansas City".
  25. ^ "Bobby Mitchell".
  26. TheGuardian.com
    . July 5, 2007.
  27. ^ "Can Louisiana Go Wilson's Way?". The New Orleans Tribune.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Algiers, New Orleans.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Algiers, New Orleans.
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