Aerial of Lower Ninth Ward, circa 1949

In 1949, before the construction of the Judge Seeber (Claiborne Avenue) Bridge, the neighborhood was sparsely populated. Homes were interspersed with farms or undeveloped squares. Most streets were unpaved, and some of them had not yet been extended very far above St. Claude Avenue and away from the Mississippi River.

Courtesy of Louisiana Division/City Archives, New Orleans Public Library