In the 1830s, Irish and German immigrants dug the New Basin Canal as a link between New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. The lake end of the canal featured the New Canal Lighthouse, originally an octagonal, wooden tower resting on pilings driven into…

The US Coast Guard's lakefront station was once located at Spanish Fort. By the 1960s, the structure at Spanish Fort had sustained damage from many hurricanes and was in disrepair. The station then moved to the site of the New Canal Lighthouse…

LaGarde Hospital was built in 1941 to relieve congestion during the Second World War at other regional Army hospitals such as Camp Beauregard in Pineville, Louisiana, and Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The hospital was designated as an…

A small fort was erected in 1701 before the founding of the city of New Orleans by the French where Bayou St. John empties into Lake Pontchartrain. The settlers sought to protect the important trade route along Bayou St. John. The fort was first…

In the fall of 1940, the Navy began improving its primary flight training facilities by building up its system of Naval Reserve air bases, including New Orleans. The lakefront base housed a steel hangar, barracks for 100 cadets, a small assembly,…

Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park was created during the Lakeshore reclamation project of the 1920s. The Orleans Levee Board began the project with the construction of a seawall which was completed in 1930. At the same time, the reclaimed area…

During WWII, Camp Leroy Johnson was used along with the New Orleans Airport by the Army and Airforce Bomber Squadron for training. Signal and Quartermaster units were trained on the post, which housed a Transportation Corps Officer Candidate School…

“Weeds, snakes, and a contaminated lake.” These were the swimming conditions that New Orleans provided for African Americans prior to the opening of Lincoln Beach. In 1938, Sam Zemurray, president of United Fruit Company, deeded a 2.3-acre tract…