Around Lake Pontchartrain

1832 Port Ponchartrain/Milneburg Light

Home
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

date unkown

 

1832 to present, Milneburg Light (also known as the Port Pontchartrain Light)

Located near Elysian Fields Avenue and the lake.

The PORT PONTCHARTRAIN LIGHT (also called the Milneburg Lighthouse) was built in 1832, then replaced
with the existing structure in 1855. It shined until 1929. It was a memorable landmark in Milneburg when
the area was thriving with entertainment of all sorts
. Later the area around the lighthouse became the
Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park--which old timers refered to as 'Milenburg'. Now the lighthouse is
part of the University of New Orleans Technology Center.

Source: National Maritime Initiative Inventory of Historic Light Stations

The PORT PONTCHARTRAIN LIGHT (also called the Milneburg Lighthouse) was built in 1832, then replaced with the existing structure in 1855. It shined until 1929.

It was a memorable landmark in Milneburg when the area was thriving with entertainment of all sorts.

Later the area around the lighthouse became the Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park--which old timers refered to as "Milenburg".

Now the lighthouse is part of the University of New Orleans Technology Center.

Source: National Maritime Initiative Inventory of Historic Light Stations
http://www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/light/portpont.htm

PORT PONTCHARTRAIN LIGHT

Location: LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN
Station Established: 1832
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1855
Operational? NO
Automated? NO
Deactivated: 1929
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE PAD ON PILINGS
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: HOURGLASS W/OCTAGONAL LANTERN
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/RED LANTERN
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER FRESNEL 1857


Source:  www.uscg.mil/.../ WEBLIGHTHOUSES/LHLA.html

         
   
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.

1832 Milneburg-Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse is built
Milneburg Light (also known as the Port Pontchartrain Light) Located near Elysian Fields Avenue and the lake. The PORT PONTCHARTRAIN LIGHT (also called the Milneburg Lighthouse) was built in 1832, then replaced with the existing structure in 1855. It shined until 1929, shortly after Pontchartrain Beach moved from Spanish Fort to Milneburg. It was a memorable landmark in Milneburg when the area was thriving with entertainment of all sorts. Later the area around the lighthouse became the Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park--which old timers refered to as 'Milenburg'. Now the lighthouse is part of the University of New Orleans Technology Center. Source: National Maritime Initiative Inventory of Historic Light Stations.

    

1948
This photograph of the New Basin Canal at West End was probably taken after the 1948 hurricane in connection with a beach erosion control study conducted by the Corps of Engineers. The Southern Yacht Club is at the right of the canal entrance and, behind it, the Municipal Yacht Harbor and West End Park. On the left is the lighthouse station. The group of buildings behind and to the left of the lighthouse is Lakeshore Hospital, formerly known as Lagarde Army Hospital. The western half of the Lakeshore subdivision currently occupies the site.

The New Basin Canal no longer exists. It was filled in during the 1950's to create the Potchartrain Expressway & West End Boulevard.

Source: New Orleans Public Library--Images of the Month
http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/sept98/sept98.htm

1832 This source says that construction of the New Basin Canal was in 1832
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 posted 2002-03-23

1832 This source says that construction of the New Basin Canal was in 1832

1770 Spanish Fort is Established

ConcertHallAndGardenSpanishFort.tif.jpg

1863  Woodcut Civil War engraving

1850s West End & Lakeport development begins

The Lake