Browse UNO (39 total)
Joseph Tom v. The Slave Ernest
Could an enslaved child be seized and sold to pay for the expenses of raising him? No, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 1860, in a case originally decided by District Judge Victor Burthe, Parish of Jefferson.
In 1849, Andre Marchesseau left…
In 1849, Andre Marchesseau left…
Carrollton Courthouse
The Carrollton Court House, built more than 150 years ago, has a fascinating legal history. Carrollton was incorporated as a city on March 10, 1845. In 1852, the neighboring town of Lafayette, which had been the seat of government for Jefferson…
Dying Declaration of a Ten Year Old Carrollton Girl
Could the Dying Declaration of a 10 Year Old Girl Be Admitted as Evidence in a Trial for Murder? Yes, held the Louisiana Supreme Court, affirming the Jefferson Parish Second Judicial District Court in Carrollton.
In the afternoon of July 25,…
In the afternoon of July 25,…
Eclipse Course, Carrollton: Pioneer of Thoroughbred Racing—on Sundays
Captain Yelverton N. Oliver of Virginia, who “cast the seed of enterprise upon the rich alluvial soil of Louisiana,” rejuvenated the languishing sport of thoroughbred racing in New Orleans by launching the Eclipse Course at Carrollton in March…
Krewe of Carrollton Revelry, 1936
Rare family photographs preserved by the Birrcher Family allow glimpses into Mardi Gras as it once was celebrated on Oak Street. These help to document the lost tradition of neighborhood-based parade routes and celebrations. Several years later, the…
Krewe Of Carrollton, 1960s and 1970s
In 1960, the Krewe of Carrollton changed its route again, now passing over the Jefferson Davis Interstate 10 overpass. In 1967, the Captain of Carrollton assisted the Krewe of Endymion in getting them rolling, including renting floats to them.
A…
A…
Krewe of Carrollton, origins
In 1924, Oak street merchants formed the Seventh District Carnival Club, which became the Krewe of Carrollton. J.W. Fordyce reigned as the first king of Carrollton's carnival organization. The krewe’s original parade route was around the…
Krewe of Carrollton, Royal Court of 1936
The 1936 Court of the Seventh District Carnival Club. In 1933, the club had made history as the only daytime parade of the Mardi Gras season because of heavy rains. A fire in 1938 forced the krewe to use loaner floats from other krewes until 1941.…
Mater Dolorosa School
Originally located on the corner of Cambronne and Freret Streets, Mater Dolorosa School was founded in 1872 in order to provide quality education to the children of the Mater Dolorosa congregation. Father Prim had reunited the French and German…
Southport
Southport was one of the most infamous clubs in the area. It was owned by Carlos Marcello and is now a music venue called Southport Hall. It moved and changed names several times.
According to Al Kleindienst, in the early 1910s Joe Hiland became…
According to Al Kleindienst, in the early 1910s Joe Hiland became…
The O'Dwyers
The O'Dwyer brothers were well-connected and operated many different clubs for decades. Though gaming was technically illegal, they were established members of the community.
Club Forest
According to Al Kleindienst, after a fire in 1942 destroyed George and Rudy O'Dwyer's Original Southport Club, they "moved to the Club Forest at 407 Jefferson Highway and called it O'Dwyer's Club Forest. They operated this club from 1943 to the fall…
Gaming Chips
Every club would produce their own gaming and roulette chips, marked with their names or an identifiable symbol. Since the closing of the clubs, these have become collector's item.
Al Kleindienst on Club Owner "Birthday" Cakes
Al Kleindienst explained that he met a Dakin Street club owner because the owner would frequent the Kleindienst bakery. Al asked the man why he was always buying so many birthday cakes, and the owner explained that "if he was informed that they was…
"Tolerating" Gambling
"Although gambling is, strictly speaking, illegal, these places are usually open for business from dusk to dawn." --New Orleans City Guide, 1938
"There was a lot of gambling; it was tolerated. I guess more than tolerated because it was so wide…
"There was a lot of gambling; it was tolerated. I guess more than tolerated because it was so wide…
Maps of Historic Gaming Dens
Clubs often changed owners, locations and names, but the general area and primary circle of families involved with the clubs remained largely consistent. While the gaming activity was illegal, it was largely tolerated (when not explicitly supported)…
McDonogh No. 23: Arbor Day
From the late 1800s through to the mid-1900s, the old Carrrollton Courthouse served as the site of McDonogh 23 public school. On February 10, 1889, McDonogh 23 became the first school in Louisiana to observe Arbor Day, which they did for many…
Benjamin Franklin Senior High School: Student Life
The school opened in September 1957 with 103 students at the Sophomore level. Junior and Senior levels were added in subsequent years. The high school was created to provide college preparatory training for students with exceptional ability in…
Benjamin Franklin Senior High School: Dedication Ceremony
Benjamin Franklin Senior High School was dedicated on November 10, 1957. The dedication was sponsored by the Orleans Parish School Board, and it included the formal presentation of the building by a school board member to William Kutz, President of…
The Great Poor Boy Debate
Cartoonist and artist Bunny Matthews, radio personality and food writer Tom Fitzmorris, and Vance Vaucresson of Vaucresson's Sausage Company engage in a lively debate regarding the proper way to order New Orleans' favorite sandwich: Po-Boy or Poor…
McDonogh No. 23
Several years after the Town of Carrollton was annexed by New Orleans in 1874, the former Carrollton Courthouse began to be used as a public school. The city was able to make the purchase because of the generous donations of John McDonogh. In 1889,…
Election Intimidation, Carrollton, 1858
Was an election for Mayor of Carrollton upheld even though voters were threatened and intimidated from voting? Yes, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 1858, reversing District Judge Victor Burthe.
The annual election for Mayor and Councilmen in…
The annual election for Mayor and Councilmen in…
Mater Dolorosa Church
Mater Dolorosa was founded in 1848 as the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the first Catholic Church in the Carrollton neighborhood. At the time, Catholic priests were itinerant and had to travel to serve their parishioners, so the…
Basement Bookshop and Library
In the 1930s and 1940s, the center of New Orleans literary life resided at 7221 Zimple Street, the Basement Bookshop and Library. Tess Crager opened the store in a little yellow wood-frame building that once had housed a butcher’s shop. Its earlier…
Maple Street Bookshop
In 1965, sisters Rhoda Norman and Mary Kellogg opened the Maple Street Bookshop, the first in New Orleans to specialize in paperback books. As Tess Crager's Basement Bookshop had been in the 1930s and 1940s, the Maple Street in the 1960s became a…
More Fun Comics: An Animated History
University of New Orleans 2010 History MA graduate Laurel Dorrance created a cartoon-style history of Oak Street's Comic Book Shop for the 2009 Po-Boy Fest History Center.
I first conducted interviews with More Fun Comic Shop owner Steve H…
I first conducted interviews with More Fun Comic Shop owner Steve H…
Bar Scotch, by Poet Everette Maddox
In 1988, Everette Maddox’s third volume of poetry, "Bar Scotch," was published by Bill Roberts and Hank Staples’ Pirogue Publishing. This volume was largely made up of work that had not gone into the earlier one, "The Everette Maddox Songbook,"…
Poet Everette Maddox
The ashes of poet Everette Maddox are buried on the patio at the Maple Leaf Bar, which, in the last years of his life, he made his home. It was here that he founded the readings series, now known as the Everette Maddox Memorial Readings Series, that…
American Waste, by Everette Maddox
After a long dry spell beginning in the early 1980s, poet Everette Maddox began writing again in 1988. The poems began to pour out of him, seeming to bubble up after the seven years in which he did not write. He wrote his poems on whatever was…
Maple Leaf Reading Series
The Maple Leaf reading series is the longest-running poetry reading series in New Orleans as well as the South. In 1979, famed local poet Everette Maddox began the series with sculptor Franz Heldner and poet Nancy Harris. Maddox had moved to New…
Nix Methadone Clinic
An addiction treatment pioneer who was ahead of his time, Dr. James T. Nix operated a methadone clinic on S. Carrollton Avenue in the early 1970s before it was raided and shut down by federal agents in 1971. Dr. Nix was one of the first Louisiana…
James Booker
New Orleans native James C. Booker had a successful career as a session player and solo act, but his life was filled with turmoil and addictions. An unconventional piano virtuoso, Booker held a weekly gig at the Maple Leaf Bar. A lifelong drug addict…
Heroin in Carrollton
The Carrollton neighborhood suffered through a heroin epidemic in the 1970s. Drug-related crime wreaked havoc throughout the neighborhood. In one of the more dramatic encounters in Carrollton between police and drug dealers, one man fired upon…
Oak Street Restaurant & Oyster House
The Oak Street restaurant at 8242 Oak Street featured "loaves and sandwiches of all kinds" and was operated by proprietor Tony Cvitanovich in the mid-1900s.
Cvitanovich was of Croatian descent and came to New Orleans via Biloxi, Mississippi.…
Cvitanovich was of Croatian descent and came to New Orleans via Biloxi, Mississippi.…
Eclipse Course, Carrollton
As late as the 1830’s, the former French and Spanish colony of Louisiana still lagged far behind in the British sport of thoroughbred racing, which had been flourishing on the East Coast for the last half-century. Even the Daily Picayune was…
Naval Air Station & University of New Orleans
In the fall of 1940, the Navy began improving its primary flight training facilities by building up its system of Naval Reserve air bases, among them New Orleans. The lakefront base included a steel hangar, barracks for 100 cadets, a small assembly…