In New Orleans, history is never far from the surface – it lives in the streets, lingers in the architecture, echoes through neighborhoods, and of course, is embodied in its people. Its historic buildings have witnessed stories of joy, struggle, creativity, faith, and resilience that helped define not only the city, but the nation.

This post explores a series of ten historical sites in the Black community in New Orleans – pairing their past with their present. Some of these sites have remained largely unchanged while others may now appear totally different or even obscured by time. By looking at these places then and now, we gain a deeper understanding of how history endures and is forgotten – not just in memory, but in the very landscape around us.

International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Local 1419, 518 South Rampart Street – now David O’Reilly Engineering Consultants

The neoclassical building at 518 South Rampart Street just a half block from Poydras Street looks somewhat out of place among its contemporary neighbors. It stands in the shadow of the 39-story Entergy Centre and is surrounded on three sides by parking lots. At first glance, it gives the impression that it was once a bank or home to some venerable business firm – and indeed until 1940, it was home to the Poydras Market Branch of the Commercial-Germania Trust & Savings Bank and later the Canal Bank and Trust Company. On 6 May 1940, it was purchased by Local 1419 of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) for $8,500 under the leadership of President Paul Hortman. For nineteen years, the building housed the union’s offices, an auditorium, and a clinic and dispensary for its members. On Sunday, 13 September 1959, amid much fanfare, the officers and members formed a motorcade from 518 South Rampart Street to the new ILA Hall at 2700 South Claiborne Avenue. This massive building, an important example of mid-century modern architecture designed by the firm Lawrence & Saunders, was demolished in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and replaced with a set of small, conjoined storefronts. 518 South Rampart Street is now home to David O’Reilly Engineering Consultants.

Laborers Union Hall, 201 Bienville Street – now Premium Parking Lot

The imposing building at 201 Bienville Street at the corner of Front Street was built in 1884 as the Louisiana Sugar Exchange. For decades, it was filled with samples of refined sugar, molasses, and rice – huddled over by planters, brokers, and prospective buyers. In August 1941, the building was sold the Construction and General Laborers Union Local No. 689. In addition to housing offices for the union, its large open event space with leaf-covered interior columns, was the site of many dances, concerts, and Carnival balls. On 22 January 1954, for example, the inaugural ball of the Vikings Krewe was held there. Other clubs which held balls in the hall included the Epicureans, Bon Temps, Capetowners, Beau Brummells, Gardenia Stitch and Chat, and the Young Men’s Twenty-Two Club. The Laborers Union was located at 201 Bienville Street until 1963, when work was begun on a new hall at the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Soniat streets, which was opened in December 1964. The old site is now home to the Premium Parking P0402 parking lot.

Central Congregational Church, 205 South Liberty Street (corner of Cleveland)

For most New Orleanians who think of the historic Central Congregational Church, the image that comes to mind is of the impressive brick edifice designed by Black architect Ferdinand Roussève at 2401 Bienville Street, which was dedicated in November 1945. For six decades before that, however, this legendary congregation which boasts of having more schools named for its members than any other church in the city, was located at 205 South Liberty Street at the corner of Cleveland Street (then called Gasquet Street). In 1872, the American Missionary Association acquired the building which had been the Fourth Presbyterian Church. In 1935, Central began holding services on the campus of the old Straight College at 2420 Canal Street (corner of South Rocheblave), until work began on the Bienville Street church in August 1944. The former site in the 200-block of South Liberty Street bears no sign of its past – it is now squarely within the site of the Tulane Medical Center.

Holy Redeemer Church, 2122 Royal Street – now Christopher Inn Apartments

The nine-story Christopher Inn apartment building which has towered over Faubourg Marigny’s Washington Square since 1970, has served a noble purpose, providing affordable housing to senior citizens. For a century before that however, the dominant structure at 2122 Royal Street was a church with a massive central tower and spire. Originally built as Third Presbyterian Church in 1860, in 1919 the edifice was sold to the Archdiocese of New Orleans. On Sunday, 11 January 1920, it was dedicated as the Church of the Holy Redeemer, a parish for “colored Catholics,” under the charge of the Josephite Fathers. Among the individuals baptized in Holy Redeemer Parish were rock and roll pioneer Antoine “Fats” Domino and New Orleans first Black mayor, Ernest “Dutch” Morial. Holy Redeemer Church was severely damaged by Hurricane Betsy in September 1965. Then-new Archbishop Phillip Hannan established Christopher Homes in 1966 as the archdiocesan ministry to provide affordable housing to seniors.

Peoples United Methodist Church, 2001 Simon Bolivar Avenue

In 1922, the Franklin Street Methodist Church merged with the congregation of the old Felicity Street Methodist Church and purchased a new building at 2524 Napoleon Avenue, becoming the Napoleon Avenue Methodist Church. On 23 May 1922, the old Franklin Avenue Church was purchased by Bishop Robert Elijah Jones for $12,000 with the intent that it would be a church and community hub to serve a Black congregation. The Peoples Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on Sunday, 2 July 1922 with sixty-five members. The illuminated cross placed atop the building by Bishop Jones and the first pastor, Reverend J. C. Calvin, was one of the first in the city, giving it the distinction reputation as “the church with a lighted cross.” The church’s active Community Center and Day Nursery were a success and later placed under a separate managing board. The structure stands today much as it did in 1922, although the façade has been bricked and it is no longer surmounted by the illuminated cross.

Lincoln Memorial Park, 10400 Old Gentilly Road – now Resthaven Memorial Park

This picture was taken on Mother’s Day, Sunday, 9 May 1954, at the dedication of Lincoln Memorial Park, billed as “largest park plan cemetery in the South.” Owned by the Gentilly Land Company, the cemetery which sits on part of a 125-acre tract, was the brainchild of entrepreneur Adam R. Haydel, Sr. Haydel owned a wreckage and salvage business; was a land developer; and began the Majestic Life Insurance Company and Majestic Mortuary. Lincoln Memorial Park was later rededicated at Resthaven Memorial Park on Easter Sunday, 10 April 1966. Today, its founder and other members of his family are entombed in a large tomb situated at the cemetery’s entrance. The property looks much as it did it 1954, with its two angels keeping prayerful watch at the entryway.

Medical Associates, 2500 Louisiana Avenue – now Fresenius Dialysis Center

This building at 2500 Louisiana Avenue was designed by architect Louis Goldstein for a pioneering partnership of Black medical practitioners called Medical Associates. Medical Associates initially consisted of Drs. Joseph M. Epps, Arnold E. Darensbourg, George J. Thomas, Anthony Hackett, and Waldo Bernard. On Sunday, 28 January 1962, they held a grand opening, at which Dr. Cyril Crocker of Washington, D. C., a New Orleans native and son of Professor Lawrence D. Crocker, was the guest speaker. The acquisition of the land and completion of the building comprised an initial outlay of $250,000. The building included waiting rooms, labs, a pharmacy, and several individual clinics, where patients could be seen by specialists in surgery, gynecology, urology, and internal medicine. The firm grew over its approximately twenty-two-year history to include Drs. Lemuel Clanton, Walter J. Barial, Ambrose J. Pratt, Odell J. Dean, Joseph L. Allain, Louis J. Bevrotte, Roy R. Marrero, Ernest Cherrie, Jr.; and C. C. Haydel, Jr. Medical Associates added an Algiers office on Newton Street and an office on Louisa Street in Gentilly. The site is now home to a Fresenius Dialysis Center.

Inseparable Friends Hall, 1607 St. Philip Street – now a part of Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home

The ridge which is barely visible behind the faux-mansard roof façade at 1607 St. Philip Street is the only indication that behind it is the wooden frame building which from 1894 to 1961 was Inseparable Friends Hall or the hall of the Société des Amis Inséparables. This benevolent society was founded on 23 January 1879 and purchased the hall on 6 January 1894 from an older organization, the Société Dieu Nous Protège, for $1,050.00. The Amis Inséparables also erected a large tomb for its members which is located on the main aisle of Square 3 of St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. In March 1961, the society sold the property to undertaker Louis Charbonnet, Jr. for $6,200.00. In the 1970s, the hall was used for political meetings and community improvement programs, such as the Dixon Research Center of Total Community Action. It is now a part of the expansive Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home complex.

Dr. George W. Lucas Residence 3315 Magnolia Street – now a part of Harmony Oaks (Magnolia Housing Project)

This impressive, raised home with a screened porch and large turret was the residence of Dr. George Washington Lucas (29 June 1876 – 11 January 1931), a native of Giddings, Lee County, Texas, who moved to New Orleans to attend Flint Medical College. Dr. Lucas was a physician and the medical director for the Pelican Life Insurance Company of Shreveport. He was a shareholder and member of the board of Peoples Industrial Life Insurance Company. His greatest achievement was serving as president of the New Orleans branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, during which time he led the campaign to pose a legal challenge to the city’s residential segregation law which went all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court. Dr. Lucas was married to Frances Angelina Nesby, a native of Pointe Coupee Parish, on 27 April 1910. They had no children. He was also a deacon in the Tulane Avenue Baptist Church and grand lodge officer in the Most Worshipful St. John Grand Lodge, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. He died on 11 January 1931. On 15 January 1931, his funeral overflowed Freedman’s Auditorium, after which he was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery. The home remained in the Lucas family through the 1950s. The site is now home to one of the northmost situated blocks of Harmony Oaks, the former Magnolia Housing Project.

Lafon Methodist Old Folks Home, 3501 South Robertson Street – now La Maison Luxury Residence Apartments

The large apartment building at 3501 South Robertson Street is now styled La Maison Luxury Residences, but until 1949, the site housed the Lafon Methodist Old Folks’ Home (later known as Lafon Nursing Home of the United Methodist Church). Like its Catholic counterpart (operated by the Sisters of the Holy Family), the institution was a beneficiary of the charity of real estate investor and free man of color Thomy Lafon. The Lafon Methodist Home was begun in 1867, the first year of the old Mississippi Mission Conference of the Methodist Church, by laywomen Eliza Gant and Sarah Robinson. The cornerstone of the South Robertson Street home was laid in November 1895. Previously, the home had been located at old 660 South Rampart Street (now Danneel Street) between Seventh and Eighth streets. While on South Robertson Street, the home could serve 43 residents. When it opened in its new location at 4038 Buchanan Street near Senate Street on 24 August 1949, its capacity more than doubled to 108 residents. The Lafon Nursing Home of the United Methodist Church remained in its Gentilly location until closed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Jari C. Honora

Sources: Colored New Orleans: High Points of Negro Endeavor (Colored Civic League of New Orleans 1923), 22; Souvenir Program for the Sixty-second Session of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Haven Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 9 to 13, 1929, pp. 32, 36 (Louisiana United Methodist Conference Archives, Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections); Historic New Orleans Collection 1994.94.2.393 [Medical Associates]; 1983.47.4.637 [Inseparable Friends]; 1985.120.175 [Central Congregational]; N-1304D [Laborers Union Hall], 1979.325.2214 [Resthaven], 1974.25.7.189 [Holy Redeemer].