Around Lake Pontchartrain

1831 New Basin Canal

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Introduction
Pre History
1699 Exploration
1701 Fort St. John
1703 Trappers on the Bayou
1718 New Orleans is Founded
1722
1732 Native Americans
1735 Native Americans
1742
1759 Map of the Portage
1763 Spanish Rule
1768 Map of the Water Route
1770 Spanish Fort Postcards
1778 Hurricanes
1779 Spanish Rebuild the Fort
1780 Hurricane
1784 Custom House
1795 Carondelet Canal
1803 Madisonville
1808 U.S. Restores the Fort
1811 Bayou St. John Light
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1814 Madisonville
1815 Steamboat Travel Begins
1815
1816 Bayou St. John a Port
1820's Concert Hall & Garden at Spanish Fort
1823 Spanish Fort on the Bayou
1828 Map
1837 Hurricane Destroys the Bayou St. John
1838 New Canal Light
1841
1830 Pontchartrain Railroad
1868 Submarine Find
1868 receipts for the Jewess and Frances
1831 New Basin Canal
1832 Port Ponchartrain/Milneburg Light
1838 Port Ponchartrain Surveyer
1838 New Canal/West End Light
1839 Milneburg
1839 Milneburg
1839 Pontchartrain Railroad
1840 By 1840, New Orleans had become by far the wealthiest and was ranked as the third most populous
1849 Southern Yach Club
1849 Southern Yacht Club
1850 Louisville & Nashville Railroad
1850 West End, Lakeport, Bucktown
1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin
1858 Harper's Magazine
1859 Bruning's
1859 Corpheous
1860's Hurricanes
1861 Most citizens have access to the Lake
1861Bayou St. John's Port, Lake Port (West End), and Port Pontchartrain (Milneburg Port)
1861 CSS CARONDELET
1863 Madisonville
1863 Woodcut Civil War engraving
1863 - CLARIMONDE
1863 Civil War Military Map
1865 - Civil War Order
1865 ? BAYOU ST. JOHN
1866 - The Little Blue Train
1868 Map
1870 Milneburg Port declines but Jazz flourishes
1870 The Smoky Mary begins
1870 West End
1870 The Lake House is destroyed in a fire
1871 Land is reclaimed at West End
1873 - Plan plan for the redevelopment of the south shore
1873 Spanish Fort
1874 Mark Twain writes about Spanish Fort in Life on the Mississippi
1874 Mark Twain writes about West End in Life on the Mississippi
1875 Rowles Stereograph Photograph titled 'Protection levee Lake Pontchartrain'
1879 Illustration from The Nathanial Bishop book
1880 Smokey Mary
1880 - Alligators at Spanish Fort
1880 - Casino at Spanish Fort
1880 - Opera House at West End
1880 Fountain West End
1880 Hotel West End
1880 West End Pavillion
1880s - Water Polo at West End
1880s Bird's Eye View- New Basin Canal at West End
1880s Bridge over New Basin Canal at West End
1880s Pavilion at West End
1880s Spanish Fort at Bayou St. John
1883 Point-aux-Herbes
1884 - Concert Hall at Spanish Fort
1888 (Papa) Jack Laine forms his first brass band
1890 - 1920 Buddy Bolden's Band plays
1890 Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton is born
1890's West End Garden Amusement Park
1890s - Spanish Fort Train
1890s Ferris Wheel at West End
1890s view of Bayou St. John
1890's Bucktown
Lake Pontchartrain at West End
1891 Painting-the Lake and Milneburg
1892 Map
1893 Woman Lighthouse keeper at Milneburg shelters storm victims
1894 - La Belle Zoraide by Kate Chopin
1894 - A LADY OF BAYOU ST. JOHN
1895 Lumber Schooner, New Basin Canal
1896 - The first movie in New Orleans was shown at the Lake
1897 - A Night in Acadie by Kate Chopin
1897 - Athénaïse by Kate Chopin
1899 - The Goodness of St. Rocque by Alice Dunbar
1895 Cape Charles Car and Passenger Ferry
1900's Milneburg Walk
1910 Bayou St. John Sailor Girl
1919 Spanish Fort Ad
1929 Port Pontchartrain/Milneburg Light decommissioned
1940's Dig
1960s Kiddieland
August 2005
1. Bayou St. John
2. Milneburg/Pontchartain Beach
Military Installments
Shushan Airport
3. Hayne Blvd. and Beyond
Lincoln Beach
Chef Pass/Fort McComb
Fort Pike & The Rigolets
"Pointe Aux Herbes"
4. Northshore -- Fontainbleau, etc.
Mandeville
Madisonville
5. Western Shores -- Pass Manchac
The German Coast
6. Engineering Marvels -- Spillway
Causeway
7. Bucktown
8. west end
General Area
Lighthouses

PaintingNewBasin.jpg

1831 New Basin Canal painting
Builders of the New Basin Canal, which connected the downtown American sector of New Orleans with Lake Pontchartrain, preferred to hire Irishmen because the work was dangerous, and they did not want their valuable slaves injured or killed. Laboring in water up to their hips, canal diggers were very susceptible to yellow fever, malaria, and cholera. Estimates of the number of Irishmen buried along the New Basin Canal ranged from 3,000 to 30,000. Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/museum/education/irish3.htm posted 2002-03-23

1831-1838 New Basin Canal is built
The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End). 1830s The New Basin Canal, which terminated near the present-day site of the Union Passenger Terminal and followed the route now taken by the Pontchartrain Expressway, served as the city's link to the Lake from the 1830s until the 1950s. Source: New Orleans Public Library--Crescent City Memory Collection http://www.gnofn.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/2.htm ------ It was built between 1831 and 1838, by Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal served as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers could take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End). This quote is from the Save Our Lakes website. The New Basin Canal, was built by Irish immigrants. The arduous task of digging the canal through alligator and snake-infested swamps began in 1832. In that same year, a cholera epidemic hit the city and 6,000 people died in 20 days, many of whom were Irish. When the canal opened for traffic in 1838, there were 8,000 Irish laborers who would never see their homes again, having succumbed to cholera and yellow fever. It was the worst single disaster to befall the Irish in their entire history in New Orleans. Ironically, the New Orleans canal and banking company which owned and built the canal was founded by the aforementioned Maunsel White, and another Irish-born gentleman, Charles Byrne, was a major shareholder. Financially, the canal was a success as it opened up trade with communities north of Lake Pontchartrain and the cities of Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on the Gulf of Mexico. As the city spread north, finally reaching the lake, its usefulness began to decline. A fund was established to erect a monument to the thousands of Irish who lost their lives building it. Source:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:AcgX7Jc0_DI:migration.ucc.ie/euromodule/documents/Irish%2520in%2520New%2520Orleans.txt+%22pontchartrain+railroad%22&hl=en

The Pontchartrain Railroad connecting the city of New Orleans with the lakeshore is completed. Because of the railroad, a large resort area develops on the lakeshore at Milneburg. This resort boasts the beautiful Washington Hotel, a park, and a bath building. The Washington Hotel becomes a popular stopping point for travelers while the well-to-do of New Orleans spend pleasant weekends there. The railroad connected Lake Pontchartrain to the Vieux Carré, (along present-day Elysian Fields Avenue) and developed Milneburg Port at its terminus. While the port handled cargo from Mobile, the surrounding land soon became a resort area, initially with the Lake House tavern and Washington Hotel. Three bathhouses, other hotels and restaurants, camps, and saloons soon followed. Eventually, the name Milneburg connoted a resort area rather than an industrial port. Photo of the Lake House credit: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/sept2000/stereo37.htm

1831 Milneburg Grows


 

Much of the remaining area of the Planning District was held by Alexander Milne, a Scottish footman who arrived in America just before 1776 and acquired his fortune from first a hardware business and later brick making. Although he believed New Orleans would grow toward the lake, little was possible until the Pontchartrain Railroad became a reality in 1831. The railroad connected Lake Pontchartrain to the Vieux Carré, (along present-day Elysian Fields Avenue) and developed Milneburg Port at its terminus. While the port handled cargo from Mobile, the surrounding land soon became a resort area, initially with the Lake House tavern and Washington Hotel. Three bathhouses, other hotels and restaurants, camps, and saloons soon followed. Eventually, the name Milneburg connoted a resort area rather than an industrial port.
 
Orleanians rode the famous "Smokey Mary" out to the many camps that dotted the shoreline and to the hotels, restaurants, roadhouses, shooting galleries, bathing facilities and fishing piers. It was at Milneburg's bandstands, dance halls and honky-talks that much of New Orleans' early jazz was first heard

1830 - Pontchartrain Rail-Road Company is chartered
The Conseil de Ville backed up the state-granted charter to the Pontchartrain Railroad by granting permission for the firm to use what we know today as the Elysian Fields Avenue neutral ground. ~ Capital $500,000. President, WCC Claiborne; Secretary, Jno. B. Leefe; Directors Saml W. Oakey, Gaston Brusle, John B B Vignie, A Plicque, E L Bernard, P Guesnon. ~ Length of the Rail Road from the City to Lake Pontchartrain, about five miles--nearly two tracks of rails completed. The company was chartered in 1830. The road was open for business on the 23d April, 1831. The cost of the road has been $500,000. ~ Officers of the Road--General Superintendent, Hartwell Reed; Chief Engineer, Hamon Turner; Local Superintendent city end, W E Proseus, Ticket Seller city end, J Dumangel; Local Superintendent lake end, R Prouty; Ticket Seller lake end, George L. Brown. ~ The Pontchartrain Railroad derived steady income by carrying mail from the city to its terminus on Lake Pontchartrain for transfer to ships that would then carry it on to Mobile. ~ Source: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/exhibits/choochoo/page1.htm

1830 - Pontchartrain Rail-Road Company is chartered

1831: The Pontchartrain Railroad connecting the city of New Orleans with the lakeshore is completed. Because of the railroad, a large resort area develops on the lakeshore at Milneburg. This resort boasts the beautiful Washington Hotel, a park, and a bath building. The Washington Hotel becomes a popular stopping point for travelers while the well-to-do of New Orleans spend pleasant weekends there.
 
1831-the Pontchartrain Railroad made Milneburg its lake-end terminal and added to its fame as a resort.

1831-1838: The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End).
 

1831-1838 New Basin Canal is built
The New Basin Canal is built using Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal serves as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End). 1830s The New Basin Canal, which terminated near the present-day site of the Union Passenger Terminal and followed the route now taken by the Pontchartrain Expressway, served as the city's link to the Lake from the 1830s until the 1950s. Source: New Orleans Public Library--Crescent City Memory Collection http://www.gnofn.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/2.htm ------ It was built between 1831 and 1838, by Irish immigrant labor, claiming the lives of many men who work on its construction. The canal served as a transport route between downtown New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Pleasure seekers could take a mule-drawn barge, complete with musical entertainment, along the New Basin Canal to the resort at New Lake End (now known as West End). This quote is from the Save Our Lakes website. The New Basin Canal, was built by Irish immigrants. The arduous task of digging the canal through alligator and snake-infested swamps began in 1832. In that same year, a cholera epidemic hit the city and 6,000 people died in 20 days, many of whom were Irish. When the canal opened for traffic in 1838, there were 8,000 Irish laborers who would never see their homes again, having succumbed to cholera and yellow fever. It was the worst single disaster to befall the Irish in their entire history in New Orleans. Ironically, the New Orleans canal and banking company which owned and built the canal was founded by the aforementioned Maunsel White, and another Irish-born gentleman, Charles Byrne, was a major shareholder. Financially, the canal was a success as it opened up trade with communities north of Lake Pontchartrain and the cities of Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on the Gulf of Mexico. As the city spread north, finally reaching the lake, its usefulness began to decline. A fund was established to erect a monument to the thousands of Irish who lost their lives building it. Source:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:AcgX7Jc0_DI:migration.ucc.ie/euromodule/documents/Irish%2520in%2520New%2520Orleans.txt+%22pontchartrain+railroad%22&hl=en

1831-1838 New Basin Canal is built


 

Although most transportation in antebellum Louisiana was by water, residents also traveled and traded by overland road and railroad. The Pontchartrain Railroad was the second completed in the United States. It began operation in 1831, carrying passengers and goods between the city at the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain at Milneburg.
Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab9a.htm



The above selection is from the February 21, 1831 issue of the United
States Weekly Telegraph newspaper
published in Washington, DC by Duff Green.
The article contains a 1/2 page report about the Pontchartrain Railroad
in New Orleans. The report describes the route and construction of the
Railroad that connected Lake Pontchartrain and the city of New Orleans,
Louisiana. The paper measures 5-1/2' by 9' and contains 32 pages.

The name Smokey Mary didn’t refer to a single railroad engine but was the popular name for any of the Pontchartrain Railroad engines that ran along Elysian Fields Avenue from Decatur Street to Milneburg, a once-popular resort area in the vicinity of the present-day University of New Orleans. According to The Streetcars of New Orleans by Louis C. Hennick and E. Harper Charlton, the Pontchartrain Railroad Co. introduced horse-drawn train service April 23, 1831. Less than a year later, on Sept. 17, 1832, the company introduced a steam-driven train. Passenger service on the Pontchartrain Railroad, one of the nation’s oldest lines, ended about a century later, on March 15, 1932, when Smokey Mary made a final trip from Milneberg.

New Orleans Magazine. •

May 1998 - Vol. 32 - Issue 8 - Page - #328
http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/32.8.-JuliaStreet.html

The monument to Alexander Milne, who died in 1838, is located in St. Louis II Cemetery. On the granite foundation is engraved his will in which he left much of his fortune to establish asylums in New Orleans for orphan boys and girls and to support asylums already in existence.

Milne was born in Scotland in 1742. He worked as a footman for a duke, but reportedly left for America when he was ordered to powder his red hair.

In 1790, he arrived in New Orleans where he established a hardware business. He also made a great deal of money from his brick-making business because New Orleans was in the process of rebuilding after the great fire of 1788.

Milne used his money to buy large tracts of land along Bayou St. John and on the lakefront, believing that the swampland would one day be valuable. When he died at age 94, he owned 22 miles of property along the lake extending from Jefferson Parish all the way to the Rigolets.

Milneburg, the town founded by the thrifty Scot, had as its main street Edinburgh named after the city in Milne's native land. But in 1923, the name was changed to Hibernia. He named other streets for cities as well such as Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, Havana, New Orleans, Madrid, Vienna and New York.

Milneburg was the first summer resort established on the lakefront. There were seafood restaurants, picnic grounds and pavilions where dances were regularly held. It was also the terminus of the Pontchartrain Railroad, built in 1831, which ran some five miles down Elysian Fields Avenue.

The town of Milneburg kept his name until it eventually became a part of the growing city of New Orleans.

Source: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2001-11-13/blake.html

Well into the 20th century schooners brought lumber, watermelons, charcoal, sand, and bricks from across Lake Pontchartrain into the heart of New Orleans by way of the New Basin Canal. Dug by hand, between 1831 and 1835, through the swamps that lay back of the city, the canal was sixty feet wide and six feet deep and almost seven miles long. Now filled and part of the Interstate Highway I-10, less than half a mile remains uncovered at the lake end, where a Coast Guard station stands on one side and Southern Yacht Club on the other. In this 1929 photograph provided by Albert McClsokey Browne, the schooners are lined up at the head of the canal, not far from the present day Union Station. Collection of Frank Gordon & Son New Orleans, Louisiana USA Source: http://www.bergeronstudio.com/fg01/p44.html

1929 New Basin Canal

1770 Spanish Fort is Established

ConcertHallAndGardenSpanishFort.tif.jpg

1863  Woodcut Civil War engraving

1850s West End & Lakeport development begins

The Lake