New Orleans Central Business District - History

History

Streets in the Central Business District (originally "Faubourg Ste. Marie") were initially platted in the late-18th century, representing the first expansion of New Orleans beyond its original French Quarter footprint. Significant investment began in earnest in the wake of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, as people from other parts of the United States flocked to the city. Consequently, the district began to be referred to as the American Sector.

While traditionally Canal Street was viewed as the dividing line between the French Quarter and the American Sector, legally both sides of Canal Street are today considered part of the Central Business District for zoning and regulatory purposes.

Through the 19th and into the 20th century, the Central Business District continued developing almost without pause. By the mid-20th century, most professional offices in the region were located downtown, the hub of a well-developed public transit system conveying tens of thousands of workers to and from the area daily. Canal Street had evolved into the primary retail destination for New Orleanians, as well as for residents of the surrounding region. Local department stores Maison Blanche, D.H. Holmes, Godchaux's, Gus Mayer, Kreeger's and Krauss anchored numerous well-known specialty retailers, such as Rubenstein Bros., Adler's, Koslow's, Rapp's, and Werlein's Music. National retailers, like Kress, Woolworth and Walgreens were present alongside local drugstore K&B. Sears operated a large store one block off Canal, on Baronne Street. Theaters and movie palaces also abounded, with the neon marquees of the Saenger, Loews State, Orpheum, Joy and Civic nightly casting multicolored light onto surrounding sidewalks. In the 1950s, six-lane Loyola Avenue was constructed as an extension of Elk Place, cutting a swath through a low-income residential district and initially hosting the city's new civic center complex. The late-1960s widening of Poydras Street was undertaken to create another six-lane central area circulator for vehicular traffic, as well as to accommodate modern high-rise construction.

The portion of the CBD closer to the Mississippi River and upriver from Poydras Street is known as the Warehouse District, because it was heavily devoted to warehousing and manufacturing before shipping became containerized. The 1984 World's Fair drew attention to the then semi-derelict district, resulting in steady investment and redevelopment from the mid-1980s onwards. Many of the old 19th century warehouses have been converted into hotels, restaurants, condominiums, and art galleries.

Notable structures in the CBD include the Greek Revival Gallier Hall (the city's former city hall), the Louisiana Superdome, the New Orleans Arena, the city's present-day, International style city hall, and One Shell Square, the city's tallest building and Royal Dutch Shell's headquarters for Gulf of Mexico Exploration and Production. Other significant attractions include the postmodern Piazza d'Italia, Harrah's Casino, the World Trade Center New Orleans, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, St. Patrick's Church, the Hibernia Bank Building and the former New Orleans Cotton Exchange.

The principal public park in the CBD is Lafayette Square, upon which face both Gallier Hall and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Other public spaces include Duncan Plaza, Elk Place, the Piazza d'Italia, Lee Circle, Mississippi River Heritage Park, Spanish Plaza and the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivor's Plaza.

Museums include the National World War II Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Louisiana Children's Museum, the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center and Confederate Memorial Hall.

New Orleans CBD was one of the few areas of New Orleans that escaped the catastrophic flooding of Hurricane Katrina.