Early settlement Algiers was established in 1719 as a plantation, not a neighborhood. 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. This region of the city was a French colonial encampment originally managed by Le Page du Pratz on which cabins housed the enslaved. According to geographer Richard Campanella, M.S., this area was used as a 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. In 1870, Algiers was annexed to the city as the 15th Ward, an arrangement which has remained despite repeated discussions of
secession. Until the latter 1930s, 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, which included a railway bridge, was built upriver at
Bridge City, Louisiana. The largest railroad presence had been the
Southern Pacific 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 brought railroad cars from there across the Mississippi River.
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
Jim Crow Laws of the Southern United States. Under Jim Crow, blacks were not allowed to live in
Algiers Point, which was tended for whites or
Creoles of color who passed as white. Blacks occupied the area downriver from
Algiers Point called
McDonoghville (locals refer to it as "Over the Hump"). The neighborhood was named after
John McDonogh. Before his death in 1850, McDonogh established "Freetown" for formerly enslaved people and other people of color. Freetown was renamed McDonoghville in 1815. When Algiers became a part of
Orleans Parish 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 and
Red Allen all grew up in
McDonoghville section in Algiers during the 1910s. 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. Around the 1930s and early 1940s, several other schools and neighborhoods were built for blacks, including Peter S. Lawton School in Tunisbourg-McCLendonville 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, and
juke joints. The most famous, Greystone Voter's League, became the place for
Rhythm & Blues shows and great singers such as
Ray Charles,
Son House, and
B. B. King, who all played there. Other popular hangout spots like Kohlman's Tavern, Ping Pong Club, and Whitney's Ballroom attracted hundreds of people every weekend. Most of the jazz venues in Algiers closed by the 1970s. Algiers slowly declined after suburban neighborhoods were developed along Gen. Meyer and Gen. De Gaulle. Many white families from across the river began to move into the newly built subdivisions of Algiers during the late 50's and early 1960s. The old plantation homes further down river, known as the “Lower Coast” were sold off and developed into suburbia. These neighborhoods include
Aurora, Huntlee Village and Walnut Bend subdivisions. All of which were mostly white middle-class areas. The oil industry provided many jobs and sustained the growth of commerce. In 1970, New Orleans Public Schools opened O. Perry Walker Senior High School. O. Perry Walker was named after former New Orleans Public Schools superintendent Oliver Perry Walker who supported segregated school systems. Before the school opened its doors, many of the white students attended Martin Behrman High School until it was converted into a middle school in 1969. During the 1970s, Whites had begun to move out of the new section of Behrman Heights after the Housing Authority of New Orleans opened the Christopher Park Homes for low-income black families. The building of a public housing site led to further
White flight. However Aurora and Huntlee Village remained white well into the 1990s. The White flight resulted in a major decline, as many businesses left Algiers for more sustainable neighborhoods in the neighboring
Jefferson Parish. == Culture ==