The Central City neighborhood has a storied history, much

of which is honored on the streets. Part of the Central City

National Register Historic District (designated in 1982)

was originally included in the fashionable 1806 development

by Barthelemy Lafon now known as the Lower Garden District.

The swampy lands further from the river were first occupied

by laborers who came to build the nearby New Basin Canal in

the 1830s. Irish and German immigrants were joined by

Italians, African Americans and Eastern European Jews as the 19th century progressed. By the time jazz great Buddy Bolden lived here at the turn of the century, the neighborhood was a mix of shopkeepers, porters and laborers, almost all of whom lived in shotgun cottages built expressly as rental housing, with palatial homes and townhomes nearby. Dryades Street, renamed Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in the 1980s after the civil rights leader of that name, was a thriving shopping area with more than 200 businesses at its peak that catered to the area’s ethnic populations and was anchored by the Dryades Market, one of over 50 city-operated, public fresh food markets.

 

Central City harbors landmarks for nearly every ethnic group that made up 19th century New Orleans. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, designed for an Irish congregation by German architect Albert Diettel in 1869, stands down the street from a shopping district that was the site of a key civil rights protest by African Americans in 1960s. Carondelet Street boasts several historic orthodox synagogues, some of which do service now as Christian churches. First African Baptist Church (1903) at 2216 Third St. became legendary after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke here in 1957.

 

                                                                              In Central City, grand mansions sit next to empty lots; restored shotguns line                                                                                streets that also hold mid 20th-century apartment complexes; new, modern                                                                                  infill housing and modern restaurants bring 21st century style to one of New                                                                                  Orleans’ most historic neighborhoods. Some areas of Central City are                                                                                            undergoing a renaissance while others await further investment, but its

                                                                              history is powerful — as is its future.

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Many thanks to the Preservation Resource Center for providing this wonderful information! (www.prcno.org)