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O-K Line: Kenner Depot & Felix Park
The town of Kenner was the western (or upper) terminus of the Orleans-Kenner interurban line from 1915 until service was discontinued in 1930.
During this time, the company also operated a "trolley…
O-K Line: Harahan Barn & Ferry Crossing
About midway through Jefferson Parish, the Orleans-Kenner interurban (or O-K Line) passed through the village of Harahan. The company's car barn and power station were located here as well as one of…
O-K Line: S. Rampart Station & Overview
The headquarters and downtown station of the Orleans-Kenner Electric Railway were located at 127 South Rampart Street between Canal Street and Tulane Avenue. Better known as the "O-K Line," it was…
O-K Line: Railroad Collision at Southport, 1926
On the evening of November 18, 1926, a railcar of the Orleans-Kenner Traction Co. (popularly called the "O-K Line") was traveling through Southport when it was hit by the rear end of a Louisiana…
Oscar James Dunn
Black civil rights activist and Reconstruction Era politician, whom W.E.B. Du Bois called, "an unselfish, incorruptible, leader."
Streetcar Protest 1867: April 28, 1867
Paper Monument Project #022: On May 8, 1867, New Orleans’ streetcars were integrated, and would remain so until Louisiana law mandated segregation again in 1902.
"Bonnie Blue Flag:" The Most Dangerous Song of the Civil War
The popularity of sheet music in the United States had reached its peak by the start of the Civil War. Well before the development of recording and broadcasting technology, the commercial music…
Harry Macarthy and the Academy of Music
In August 1861, Harry Macarthy, also known as "The Arkansas Comedian," arrived in New Orleans to perform a three-month stint of "Personation Concerts" at the Academy of Music, a then popular play…
Maroons in Antebellum New Orleans: Independence at Any Cost
The term ‘Maroon’ refers to enslaved people who ran away from slave owners and remained in the south to join or establish independent, hidden settlements. Maroons utilized the area’s topography to…
A. L. Davis Park
Civil Rights activists used African American purchasing power to press equality.
Carrollton Station: Building the Barn
The neutral ground transformed as tracks appeared on Carrollton Avenue. The Berlin Iron Bridge Company began construction on a ten-track streetcar barn one block off Carrollton Avenue to the tune of…
The Elephant in the Room: Burial Site of Enslaved People and Contested Jurisdiction at McDonoghville Cemetery
In 2016, the Jefferson Parish Historic District sponsored the erection of a state marker recognizing the McDonoghville Cemetery’s historical significance. This marker does not mention the enslaved and…
Projectionist Strike of 1914
Projectionists played a key role in early movie theaters. Despite its central function, the job was not without occupational hazards.
Free Southern Theater
Paper Monuments Project #009:
Madame Josephine Decuir
By the 1870s, steamboats carried passengers up and down the Mississippi River, docking in the ports of major cities like New Orleans. Here, in July 1872, Captain John Benson denied Josephine Decuir…
Dooky Chase's Restaurant
Dooky Chase's Restaurant provided a space for activists to come together over what New Orleanians know best: food.
McCrory's Five-and-Dime
The former McCrory's lunch counter at 1005 Canal Street was a site for protest during the New Orleans civil rights movement.
“Don’t Wear Your Good Shoes Up Here”: The Arcadia and Alamo Dance Halls of Prohibition Era New Orleans
In the 1920s and 1930s, the second floor of 1001 Canal Street was home to the Arcadia and Alamo Dance Halls. These dance halls served as a space for thirsty men in New Orleans to cut loose at the…
Dorothy Day: Journalist, Activist, Catholic Worker Movement Founder
In 1924, journalist and political activist Dorothy Day lived in an apartment at 520 St. Peter Street while writing for the New Orleans Item. During her short time working at the newspaper, Day wrote…
Alice Marie Thompson
On November 1, 1961, Alice Marie Thompson joined other New Orleans Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) members to test the Interstate Commerce Commission’s new policy of bus desegregation at the New…
Jean Thompson
On May 24, 1961, Jean Thompson, at age 19, participated in the Freedom Ride from Montgomery, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi as civil rights activists tested the Interstate Commerce Commission’s…
Shirley Thompson
Shirley Thompson, the youngest of the Thompson sisters, joined the New Orleans Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Freedom Rides as they tested the Interstate Commerce Commission’s desegregation of bus…
Stories of the Enslaved Within Today’s Audubon Park
Basile, Achilles, Congo and many other enslaved people labored on Étienne de Boré’s plantation within today’s Audubon Park. Alongside planting and harvesting sugar cane, enslaved labor on the Boré…
The Forty Artisans of the Boré Plantation
In October of 1796, General Victor Collot, a spy for the French colonial government, arrived in New Orleans after a military expedition down the Mississippi River creating maps of Spanish land…