Planning District Eight

Lower Ninth Ward/Holy Cross

Planning District Eight has a rich history, strong sense of community, stable neighborhoods, and a high percentage of home ownership. The area has many architecturally and historically significant homes near the Mississippi River. Land along the riverfront has not been completely developed, allowing for desirable neighborhood access to the river for recreational use. However, blighted properties, unkempt lots, a surging vacancy rate, and lack of commercial and city services are lowering the quality of life in the district. The proposed Land Use Plan encourages preserving residential sectors, revitalizing and adding commercial and economic development, as well as increasing green space.

Section I: Boundaries

Planning District Eight, the Lower Ninth Ward/Holy Cross area, is bounded by Florida Avenue on the north, the Orleans/St. Bernard Parish line on the east, the Mississippi River on the south, and the Industrial Canal on the west. There are two neighborhoods within the district: Lower Ninth Ward (16) and Holy Cross (15C). 

Section II: Development History

Planning District Eight was originally developed as a residential neighborhood for low to medium income families, with initial development occurring on small lots between St. Claude Avenue and the riverfront. At the time, truck gardening and other farming activities provided a major source of employment for residents of the area. Neighborhood commercial uses, characterized by the corner store, began to develop at scattered locations as the population increased. From early on, the area was more an outlying village than a part of the city, and even today its development pattern is more suburban than its contemporary subdivisions of Marigny and Bywater. In many respects residents feel distinct, even isolated from New Orleans.

Maps prepared in the mid-1800s show that the area's first development began in the 1820s. The Ursuline Nuns developed an 80-acre parcel for their convent in 1826. Sugar was a dominant crop, and the Louisiana Sugar Refinery, dated 1831, is shown along with several plantations. The complex known as Jackson Barracks is one of the earliest and most noteworthy institutions in the area. The U.S. government began assembling land in 1833 to provide a central garrison, medical and supply point for troops sent to several coastal forts built after the War of 1812. Although only one block wide at the river, the Barracks stretch 25 blocks lakeward, with only three streets crossing the complex-Dauphine, St. Claude and N. Claiborne. 

By 1834, large plantations had been subdivided into narrower lots for development. Bernard Marigny, one of the early developers, subdivided his lands in District Eight about the same time as he did in neighboring Bywater. 

The Catholic population in the area had grown rapidly between 1840 and 1852, from 200-300 to 1,500-1,800 members. To serve the membership from the Ursuline Convent to Paris Road, the church built St. Maurice Chapel at St. Maurice and Chartres, a landmark that remains today. The Brothers of Holy Cross are cited as the oldest religious order of teaching brothers in the United States. In 1849 they accepted responsibility for St. Mary's Orphanage, located upriver of the current site of Holy Cross High School. In 1859 the Brothers purchased the nearby Reynes plantation and by 1879 had founded St. Isadore's College as a boarding and day school for boys. By 1890, the State had chartered the school, and the name changed to Holy Cross College. In 1912 the facilities expanded, but the focus changed to a secondary institution, as it is today. 

Until the late 1800s Orleans Parish included lands beyond Jackson Barracks to what is now Aycock Street in Arabi. The area was occupied by the Crescent City Stockyards and Slaughter Company. However, the City of New Orleans had passed an ordinance prohibiting the operation of cattle slaughter houses within city limits, and so this land became part of St. Bernard Parish. This same area soon came to include the business district around the Arabi Post Office. 

Throughout the area, small truck farms provided fresh produce to restaurants and open markets in New Orleans, including the French Market. With the exception of these farms, (later becoming more modern ranch homes and apartment houses), most residential development in Holy Cross was complete by the late 1800s. Building stock inventories performed in the early 1980s indicate that all early plantation structures had been destroyed, but the neighborhood's historical fabric was sufficiently intact to warrant listing the Holy Cross neighborhood on the National Register in 1986. In 1990 it was given a Local Historic District designation. The predominant architectural style found in the neighborhood is the shotgun, but Creole cottages, side halls, bungalows and occasional brick Italianate structures can also be found. 

Physical changes to the area included the erosion of land closest to the Mississippi River, removing an area equal to one block in length along the levee. Erosion was halted by the construction of the levee in 1912. Another significant physical change in the district was the construction of the Industrial Canal in the 1920s. The levee provides a broad expanse of green space and an informal recreation area to residents, while the Canal creates a physical barrier that further isolated the district from the rest of the city.

The Lower Ninth Ward was among the very last of the city's neighborhoods to be developed. Originally a cypress swamp, the area is very low-lying and formerly functioned as the river access area for plantations along the river. The area was nearly completely logged of cypress during the mid-1800s and only a few trees remain today. Development only became possible after major drainage and road improvements were completed between 1910 and 1920, including the Jordan, Tupelo and Florida Avenue Canals. 

By 1950, only half of the Lower Ninth Ward had been developed, since basic services and additional drainage and storm systems needed to accommodate residential development were not readily available until after World War II. Furthermore, the development of the Lower Ninth Ward has been determined by its isolation from the rest of the city. On the northern border, the Florida Avenue Canal and the Southern Railroad tracks created a barrier penetrated by only one bridge. To the west lies the Industrial Canal, which until the late 1950s had only one crossing at St. Claude Avenue. It was at that time that another bridge was built across the canal at Claiborne Avenue. Even in the 1960s and 1970s, reports from the City Planning Commission, the City's Community Improvement Agency, and the City's Office of Policy Analysis all suggest isolation, as well as infrastructure and service problems affecting the development of the Lower Ninth Ward. 

At mid-century industrial uses were being developed adjacent to the dry dock with a few scattered uses appearing in predominately residential sectors at the north end of the district. Retail development along St. Claude became notable during this period and the trend of corner store, neighborhood commercial activity continued. By 1965 commercial activity along St. Claude continued to expand and industrial development accelerated in the strip bordering the Industrial Canal between Claiborne and Florida Avenue. Scattered industrial and commercial uses throughout residential areas of the district continued.

The last quarter of the 20^th Century has brought a decline in the neighborhood with large industrial users leaving the area and a depression in the city's economy in the 1980s. Many of the homes built in the 1930s & 40s now stand empty and neglected. The flood of 1961 covered eighty percent of the district under six feet of water. However, a recent renaissance of restoration and rehabilitation of older homes is beginning to revitalize District Eight and deliver to residents hope for a brighter future. Meanwhile, the Industrial Canal lock is slated for replacement by a wider lock farther north in an industrial area. The proposal also calls for substantial improvements in recreation, landscaping and streets in Holy Cross, Bywater, and Lower Ninth Ward.

Section III: Population

The following tables provide demographic statistics on the population residing within the planning district as well as the total population of the city of New Orleans. The statistics provide information on each area for 1980, 1990, 1997 and 2002.