12th WARD OVERVIEW

The 12th Ward or Twelfth Ward is a division of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans.

The Ward was formerly part of the old Jefferson City anexed by New Orleans in 1870.
The roughly wedge shaped Ward stretches back from the Mississippi River. The lower boundary is Toledano Street, across which is the 11th Ward; the upper boundary is Napoleon Avenue, across which is the 13th Ward, and the back boundary is South Broad, across which is a portion of the 14th Ward. It includes a section of Uptown New Orleans and part of the Broadmoor neighborhood.

Landmarks include Touro Infirmary, Saint Charles General Hospital. Down from Napoleon Avenue are a series of streets perpendicular to the River named after the victories of Napoleon I. Constantinople Street was the home of the fictitious New Orleans character "Ignatius Reiley" in John Kennedy Toole's novel "A Confederacy of Dunces". Saint Charles Avenue, with the famous St. Charles Avenue Streetcar, cuts through the neighborhood, and is the route of many New Orleans Mardi Gras parades. The Ward contains two branches of the New Orleans Public Library; the old Carnegie library on Napoleon just back from Magazine is now the city's Children's Resource Center library, and the Rosa Keller Branch at Broad & Napoleon. Portions of the fomer Magnolia C.J. Pete housing project along Louisiana Avenue is in the Ward.

AFTER KATRINA

The majority of the Ward back from St. Charles Avenue flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.