Pontchartrain Park was developed after
World War II. It was one of the first
suburban-style subdivisions developed by and for
middle class African Americans during the
Jim Crow era of
racial segregation in
Louisiana. It has been home to such prominent New Orleanians as mayors
Dutch Morial and
Marc Morial, political activist
Philip M. Baptiste and district attorney
Eddie Jordan; as well as nationally known figures such as
Lisa P. Jackson, EPA Administrator under President Barack Obama, actor
Wendell Pierce, and jazz musician
Terrence Blanchard. In the 1970s, urban renewal projects were undertaken with funding from the federal
New Town Program. Pontchartrain Park flooded badly in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, taking on water first from the overtopping of a section of floodwall of the Industrial Canal caused by storm surge channeled into the city from the
MRGO Canal, then from major breaches sustained by floodwalls along the
London Avenue Canal. In July 2020, the Pontchartrain Park Historic District was announced, as the neighborhood was added to the U.S. National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. A commemorative marker was unveiled on June 30, 2022. ==Notable residents==