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26-515: The earliest version of the Orleans Canal did not include any of the current route. It was a drainage ditch dug alongside of Orleans Avenue in the 1830s, running from the Tremé neighborhood into Bayou St. John . It was part of a city drainage plan by state engineer George T. Dunbar . The "Bienville Drainage Machine" was constructed, basically a large paddle-wheel powered by a steam engine , at

52-475: A bend at the Lakefront to terminate at Spanish Fort Amusement Park . Much of its route ran alongside the straight line of the canal, which was dug deeper, providing fill for the railway right-of-way through the low swampy area running from Metairie Ridge to the lake. While some 19th-century city maps show a grid of streets in this area, in reality these streets were not extended into this area, and it remained

78-478: A racially mixed neighborhood, it remains an important center of the city's African-American and Créole culture, especially the modern brass band tradition. Some sources go so far as to call it the oldest black-majority neighborhood in the U.S. The Faubourg Tremé was created from land owned by Claude Tremé in 1810. A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by

104-414: A swamp with little development until the mid-20th century. At the time, the main intention of the canal was to remove water from the developed area on the lake side of the machine, not from the swampy ground along closer to the lake along most of the canal's length. The first decade of the 20th century saw further improvements. A second pumping station was added closer to the lake at Florida Boulevard (near

130-736: Is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana . "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme , and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, the Faubourg Tremé ; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Tremé / Lafitte when including the Lafitte Projects . Founded in the 1810s, it is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and was initially the main neighborhood of its free people of color . Historically

156-671: Is listed on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail , as is the community's St. Augustine Church — the oldest African-American Catholic parish in the U.S.. According to the United States Census Bureau , the district has a total area of 0.69 square miles (1.8 km ), all of which is land. The New Orleans City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of Tremé as these streets: Esplanade Avenue, North Rampart Street, St. Louis Street, North Broad Street. As of

182-490: Is often considered the birthplace of Rebirth Brass Band , one of the most notable current New Orleans bands. Alex Chilton , who led the rock groups Big Star and The Box Tops , lived in Tremé from the early 1990s until his death in 2010. During Hurricane Katrina , the Tremé neighborhood suffered minor to moderate flooding. In the portion of the neighborhood in from I-10, the water was generally not high enough to damage many of

208-455: The census of 2000, there were 8,853 people, 3,429 households, and 2,064 families residing in the neighborhood. The population density was 12,830 /mi (4,918 /km ). As of the census of 2010, there were 4,155 people residing in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was 92.4% Black or African American, 4.9% White, 1.5% Hispanic, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% Two or More Races, and 0.6% Other. As of the census of 2020, there were 4,590 people residing in

234-590: The 1870s. In 1871 drainage improvements rerouted and extended the canal, changing its terminus from the Bayou to the lake. The Canal Street, City Park, and Lake Railroad Company was formed in 1873, and the line was complete and running by 1877. The railway ran from the developed part of the city which still hugged the Mississippi River , with a stop at City Park (which at the time extended only 1 block back from Metairie Road—modern City Park Avenue), then taking

260-595: The 20th century , the city restored the traditional name of "Congo Square". In the early 1960s, in an urban renewal project later considered a mistake by most analysts, a large portion of central Tremé was torn down. The land stood vacant for some time, then in the 1970s the city created Louis Armstrong Park in the area and named Congo Square within Armstrong Park. In 1994, the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park

286-636: The New Orleans City Planning Commission are Esplanade Avenue to the east, North Rampart Street to the south, St. Louis Street to the west and North Broad Street to the north. The Tremé neighborhood began as the Morand Plantation and two forts—St. Ferdinand and St. John. Near the end of the 18th century, Claude Tremé purchased the land from the original plantation owner. By 1794 the Carondelet Canal

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312-744: The OLB, the S&;WB, the DOTD and, possibly, the Federal Highway Administration. This had not been resolved at the time of Hurricane Katrina’s arrival, so floodwaters simply poured through the open gap, which served to partially relieve water levels within the canal. This inadvertent ‘spillway’ (gap in the I-wall) was located under a viaduct carrying Interstate-610 where the top of the existing earthen levee crest lay approximately 5–6 feet below

338-464: The Orleans Canal levees and floodwalls did not fail. The Army Corps of Engineers determined this was due, in part, to the presence of an unintended 100-foot-long ‘spillway,’ a section of legacy wall that was significantly lower than the adjacent newer floodwalls adjacent to Pump Station No. 7 at the south end of this canal. The unintended ‘spillway’ was located in an area where eventual floodwall (I-wall) construction would require coordinated efforts between

364-563: The corner of Hagen and Bienville Streets, which pushed the current of the Orleans Canal out towards the lake, perhaps the first of what would become many mechanical pumps for removing water from city streets. Dunbar's plans included many other improvements to the city's drainage, but the Panic of 1837 largely halted further implementation plans for decades. The canal was expanded during the developments and civic improvements in New Orleans in

390-520: The current I-610 ). In 1906 the steam locomotive running along the line was replaced with electric streetcars. The early 20th century a greatly improved drainage pumping system designed by A. Baldwin Wood was installed. Starting in the late 1920s, the Lake Pontchartrain shore line was extended and lake side levees constructed. The portion of the canal on the river side of Metairie Ridge

416-540: The end, however, the failures of the 17th Street and London Avenue Canals made this issue moot. The 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal both experienced catastrophic failures. All three canals were supposedly engineered to the same specifications before the hurricane, and all presumably experienced very similar conditions during the storm. After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration ordered that

442-400: The neighborhood. The neighborhood is 56.3% Black or African American, 35.6% White, 5.1% Hispanic, 0.4% Asian, 2.6% Two or More Races, and 0.2% Other. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans operates Catholic schools. St. Peter Claver School was in Tremé. It was established in 1921, and closed in 2019. In its final year it had 147 students, while the archdiocese's expected enrollment

468-606: The neighborhood. The "town square" of Tremé was Congo Square —originally known as "Place des Nègres"—where slaves gathered on Sundays to dance. This tradition flourished until the United States took control , and officials grew more anxious about unsupervised gatherings of slaves in the years before the Civil War. The square was also an important place of business for slaves, enabling some to purchase their freedom from selling crafts and goods there. For much of

494-585: The new hurricane protection should be able to withstand a storm that has a 1% chance of occurring every year. This is called a "100 year storm." The Army Corps of Engineers decided that, to meet that requirement, new pumping stations and permanent closures would be built on all three of the New Orleans Outfall canals. 30°00′37″N 90°05′58″W  /  30.01028°N 90.09944°W  / 30.01028; -90.09944 Trem%C3%A9 Tremé ( / t r ə ˈ m eɪ / trə- MAY )

520-545: The old raised homes. The neighborhood demographics have changed in recent years due to gentrification and the proliferation of short-term rentals such as Airbnb . Located in Tremé, the New Orleans African American Museum is dedicated to protecting, preserving, and promoting through education the history, art, and communities of African Americans in New Orleans and the African diaspora . It

546-531: The rest of the 19th century, the square was an open-air market . " Creoles of color " brass and symphonic bands gave concerts, providing the foundation for a more improvisational style that would come to be known as " Jazz ". At the end of the 19th century, the city officially renamed the square "Beauregard Square" after the French Créole Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard , but the neighborhood people seldom used that name. Late in

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572-457: The south, Canal Street on the west, Esplanade Avenue on the east, and Broad Street on the north. Claiborne Avenue is a primary thoroughfare through the neighborhood. At the end of the 19th century, the Storyville red-light district was carved out of the upper part of Tremé; in the 1940s this was torn down and made into a public housing project. This area is no longer considered part of

598-709: The tops of the adja- cent concrete floodwalls. Completion of the floodwall would have likely caused the brick walls of the old pump station to fail unless they had been significantly reinforced. The presence of this spillway (gap) was a sore spot on the record of the Orleans Levee Board and the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board. Had the canal walls of the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal not been breached, this spillway could have allowed overtopping for several hours resulting in significant flooding, although not catastrophic flooding. In

624-565: Was built from the French Quarter to Bayou St. John , splitting the land. Developers began building subdivisions throughout the area to house a diverse population that included Caucasians and free persons of color. Tremé abuts the north, or lake, side of the French Quarter , away from the Mississippi River —"back of town" as earlier generations of New Orleanians used to say. Its traditional borders were Rampart Street on

650-481: Was enclosed to become sub-street drainage. The levees along the canal further back were raised, as the former swamp was developed after World War II , the area on the downriver side becoming an extension of City Park and on the upriver side the Lakeview residential neighborhood. The level of the water in the canal in this section was and is often higher than the surrounding streets. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005,

676-513: Was established here. Musicians from Tremé include Doreen Ketchens , Alphonse Picou , Kermit Ruffins , Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews , Lucien Barbarin , and "The King of Treme" Shannon Powell . Additionally, comedian Mark Normand grew up in the neighborhood. While predominantly African-American, the population has been mixed from the 19th century through to the 21st. Jazz musicians of European ancestry such as Henry Ragas and Louis Prima also lived in Tremé. Also, Joe's Cozy Corner in Tremé

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