ALGIERS OVERVIEW

Algiers is a community within the city of New Orleans. It is the portion of Orleans Parish, Louisiana on the west bank of the Mississippi River, across from the French Quarter.

ABOUT ALGIERS

What is now Algiers was founded as a plantation in 1719. This date is sometimes given as the year of the town's founding, making it one of the oldest neighborhoods in what is now New Orleans, but development as a town as opposed to a private plantation did not actually occur until about 1800. Algiers was incorporated as a city in 1840. In 1870 it was annexed to the city of New Orleans, becoming the 15th Ward of the city (one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans), an arrangement which has remained ever since, although there have been repeated discussions of secession.

The oldest part of Algiers is Algiers Point, across the river from the French Quarter. Algiers Point has been connected with the foot of Canal Street across the river by a ferry since 1827.

In the 19th century, shipbuilding was an important industry here. In the 1850s Algiers became a major railroad center. Large railyards housed large amounts of freight and rolling stock, which was brought back and forth across the Mississippi River by barge until the late 1930s, when the Huey P. Long Bridge was built upriver at Bridge City, Louisiana. The largest railroad presence was the Southern Pacific yard. That location, now a largely vacant strip, is still known to Algerines as "the SP yard." In the yard's active days, a steam-powered Southern Pacific train ferry brought railroad cars from there across the Mississippi River. The Algiers railyards were known for their ability to repair or create replacements for any part needed for any type of locomotive.

Algiers Point as seen from across the Mississippi River in the French Quarter. A fire destroyed most of the buildings in Algiers in 1895. Most of the gingerbread-fronted houses seen in the neighborhood today date from immediately after that fire.

A number of New Orleans carnival krewes have their "dens" (warehouses where their floats are constructed and stored) in Algiers.

AFTER KATRINA

On September 26, 2005, Algiers became the first major section of New Orleans to be reopened to residents after Hurricane Katrina. Although a number of buildings suffered wind damage from the storm, Algiers escaped the flooding which enveloped most of the East Bank of the city. Water service was never lost in this area and electricity and natural gas were quickly restored.