Melpomene Street Blues: Archaeology of the Guste Homes in Central City
In 1961, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) demolished a portion of the Melpomene neighborhood in Central City to make way for The William J. Guste, Sr. Homes, a public housing project consisting of 993 public housing units including a 12-story high-rise, a building for elderly residents, and six low-rise buildings.
The Melpomene neighborhood looked much like the rest of the Central City area, with densely packed houses, corner stores, and other small businesses. When HANO demolished those buildings to make way for the Guste Homes, much of the old building foundations and footings remained below ground.
In 2004, HANO demolished and began redeveloping the Guste Homes. In 2013, two archaeological firms conducted tests to see what was preserved in the blocks where Guste Homes once stood, revealing historical information about the Melpomene neighborhood that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to know.
In this tour, we will go back in time starting in 1964, when the Guste Homes opened, and focus on a few families who lived in the area over the previous hundred years.
Access: Online only
Tips: This tour includes information about archaeological sites already investigated in Orleans Parish. Some of these sites are now destroyed. Others are no longer accessible or have considerable untapped research potential. Most are on private property and not readily accessible to the public.
As there are few protections for archaeological resources in the city, the locations of some of these projects are only approximate. We ask that you do your part to help us preserve and protect the cultural heritage of the city. Please contact us or the Louisiana Division of Archaeology if you are aware of archaeological resources that are being destroyed.
Stories 11
Guste Homes: Excavating a Central City Neighborhood
What is archaeology, and why would you do archaeology at the former site of the Guste Homes?
1961 Construction of the William J. Guste, Sr. Homes
In 1961, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) announced plans to construct the William J. Guste, Sr. Homes, named for the Housing Authority’s long-time general counsel. The 1961 Report of the…
The Guste Homes and Melpomene Neighborhood in 1964
In 1964, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans published the results of “A Survey of the Recreational, Social, and Economic Conditions of the Negro Population of the William S. Guste, Sr., Homes and…
The Melpomene Neighborhood, 1930-1960
Between the 1930s and 1960s, racist policies at every level of government pushed Black residents of New Orleans into lower-paying jobs and racially segregated neighborhoods. Throughout the nation,…
The Puckett Household: 1930s Archaeology of the Melpomene Neighborhood
In 2013, archaeological consulting firm Earth Search, Inc., excavated a block of the Melpomene neighborhood originally bounded by South Liberty, Erato, Clio, and Howard/LaSalle Streets. Earth Search…
The Melpomene Neighborhood, 1900-1930
In working class neighborhoods like the Melpomene in Central City, the importance of women’s labor in the household’s economy is visible both in historical records and archaeological materials. Women…
The Salvaggio Household: Early 20th Century Archaeology of the Melpomene Neighborhood
In 2013, archaeological firms conducted test excavations in City Square 383 in the Melpomene neighborhood, the city block once bounded by Erato, Freret, Thalia, and South Robertson (or Locust)…
The Melpomene Neighborhood, 1880-1900
By the early 1900s, the Melpomene neighborhood in Central City was a densely populated urban neighborhood, where many residents worked in occupations related to shipping, particularly in the nearby…
Archaeology of the Melpomene Neighborhood at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: Excavation of a Privy at 1304 Howard/LaSalle
In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, many of the people who lived in the Melpomene neighborhood of Central City rented their residences with some addresses seeing rapid turnover. …
The Melpomene Neighborhood Before 1880
In the Colonial Era, the area that eventually became the Melpomene neighborhood and later utilized for the Guste Homes was located in a low-lying backswamp zone at the rear of the Livaudais plantation…
Archaeology of The Melpomene Neighborhood During Reconstruction
During 2013 investigations in City Square 350, archaeologists excavated a large and well-constructed brick-lined privy shaft, producing a rich assemblage of glass containers and ceramic vessels, along…Tour curated by: D. Ryan Gray, Rachel Breunlin, and Shana M. griffin