Virtually New Orleans: Decatur Street in the 1890s...
We call the oldest neighborhood in the city the "French Quarter," but it hasn't really been that French since the big fire in 1788. That fire happened when the Spanish owned the city, so it was naturally re-built in the Spanish style. Then the Americans came along, and their influence constantly grew. The flood of immigrants from Ireland and Germany towards the middle of the 19th Century diminished the French even further. When the Italians started coming to the city in large numbers after the Civil War, the Vieux Carre could have easily been re-named the "Italian Quarter." Italian families moved into the lower French Quarter, setting up butcher shops in the French Market, bakeries on the side streets, and groceries on Decatur Street.





This photo, from the mid-late 1890s, is of the 900 block of Decatur Street. It's most likely early morning, since the big shade in front of Progress Grocery is pulled down to block the morning sun. Wagons move to and from the French Market, residents going about their morning routine.

The city's streetcar lines were in the process of being electrified at this time. A pole with a crossbar holding up overhead trolley wire is visible just above the second wagon. It's not clear if the electric streetcars were actually operating or if the wiring is under construction. The holes in the street indicate that no repairs or modifications have been made yet to accomodate electric streetcars.


[Virtually New Orleans]
Permanent link to this entry)