Bywater | |
---|---|
Neighborhood | |
Coordinates: 29°57′46″N90°02′24″W / 29.96278°N 90.04000°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Louisiana |
City | New Orleans |
Planning District | District 7, Bywater District |
Area | |
• Total | 1.33 sq mi (3.4 km2) |
• Land | 0.94 sq mi (2.4 km2) |
• Water | 0.39 sq mi (1.0 km2) |
Elevation | 3 ft (0.9 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 2,181 |
• Density | 1,600/sq mi (630/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
Area code | 504 |
Bywater Historic District | |
Location | Roughly bounded by the N. Claiborne Ave. and Urquhart St., Kentucky St., Mississippi River, and Montegut and Press Sts., New Orleans, Louisiana |
---|---|
Area | 290 acres (120 ha) |
Architectural style | Bungalow/craftsman, Italianate, Shotgun House |
NRHP reference No. | 86000113 [1] |
Added to NRHP | January 23, 1986 |
Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south, and the railroad tracks along Homer Plessy Way (formerly Press Street) to the west. Bywater is part of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. It includes part or all of Bywater Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [2] [3]
During New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Society of Saint Anne marching krewe starts their procession on Mardi Gras morning in Bywater and gathers marchers as it travels through the French Quarter, ending at Canal Street. This walking parade of local residents, artists, and performers is preceded by the Bywater Bone Boys Social Aid and Pleasure Club (founded 2005), an early-rising skeleton krewe made up of writers, tattoo artists, painters, set designers, musicians, and numerous other pre–7 a.m. revelers.
After Hurricane Katrina, many survivors flocked to the area as it was less affected by the storm, due to the slightly higher elevation closer to the Mississippi river. Bywater became part of what was known as the "Sliver by the River," meaning neighborhoods that saw no flooding, including Faubourg Marigny, the French Quarter and Irish Channel neighborhoods, and parts of the lower Garden District including St. Charles Avenue. [4]
Bywater is located at 29°57′46″N90°02′24″W / 29.96278°N 90.04000°W [5] and has an elevation of 3 feet (0.9 m). [6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the district has a total area of 1.33 square miles (3.4 km2), 0.94 square miles (2.4 km2) of which is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km2) (29.32%) of which is water.
The traditional boundaries of Bywater are: the Mississippi River to St. Claude Avenue, and the railroad tracks along Homer Plessy Way (formerly Press Street) to the Industrial Canal. Press Street's name came from a cotton press (known elsewhere as a cotton compress) which operated here during the 19th century. The Bywater/Marigny stretch of Press Street was changed to Homer Plessy Way in 2018 to memorialize Homer Plessy, the plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,096 people, 2,263 households, and 1,030 families residing in the neighborhood. [7] The population density was 5,421 inhabitants per square mile (2,093/km2).
As of the census of 2010, there were 3,337 people, 1,763 households, and 573 families residing in the neighborhood. [7] The population density was 5,421 inhabitants per square mile (2,093/km2).
The area now known as Bywater was mostly plantation land in the colonial era, with significant residential development beginning the first decade of the 19th century as part of what was known as "Faubourg Washington," part of the predominantly Francophone "downtown" section of New Orleans. Many people from France, Spain, and the French Caribbean settled here. During the century, it grew with both white Creoles of French and Spanish descent, as well as mixed-race Creoles of French, Spanish, African, and Native American descent. They were also joined by immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Ireland.
Bywater is home to the site at which Homer Plessy was removed from an East Louisiana Railroad car for violating the separate car act, an event that resulted in the Plessy v. Ferguson case and the legal doctrine of "separate but equal." Today, a historical marker stands at the intersection of Press Street and Royal Street to commemorate the event. [8]
There was little distinction between this area and what became known as the Lower 9th Ward until the Industrial Canal was dredged in the early 20th century, dividing the two.
A generation knew the area as the "Upper 9th Ward," but as other parts of the 9th Ward above the Canal farther from the River became developed, a more specific name was needed. Inspired by the local telephone exchange designation of Bywater, which fit the neighborhood's proximity to the River and the Canal, the neighborhood was known as "Bywater" by the 1940s.
Real estate development and speculation surrounding the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition prompted many long-term French Quarter residents to move down river, at first into Marigny. By the late 1990s the bohemian, artistic type of communities such as were found in the French Quarter mid-20th century had spread to Bywater, and many long-neglected 19th-century houses began to be refurbished.
Bywater and neighboring Faubourg Marigny are two of the most colorful neighborhoods in the city. The architectural styles borrow heavily from the colonial French and Spanish and have elements of Caribbean vernacular architecture. This blending over the last three centuries has resulted in an architectural style unique to the city of New Orleans.
As the section of Bywater on the River side of St. Claude Avenue was one of the few portions of the 9th Ward to escape major flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it has made steady progress toward recovery, more so than many other parts of the city.
Tremé 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.
The Faubourg Marigny is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
The Central Business District (CBD) is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
"La Société de Saint Anne" is a New Orleans Mardi Gras marching krewe that parades each Mardi Gras Day. La Société de Saint Anne was founded in 1969 by residents of the French Quarter and nearby Faubourgs who recognized the need for a return to earlier traditions of "walking krewes" which at one time were more prevalent but which had been overshadowed by the development of larger float parades in the early 20th Century. As the float parades grew in scale and number, they were forced to move out of the narrow streets of the French Quarter and onto broader avenues uptown and in mid-City. The walking krewes were groups of neighbors from various wards of the city who took to the streets on foot, in celebration of their common love for the City of New Orleans and the food, music, drink, spirituality, and lifestyles that developed there during the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries. La Société de Saint Anne was formed to bring the celebration back down to street level and to revive this old tradition of celebration in the residents' own area. In the ensuing years, as the more bohemian elements of the French Quarter were forced to move further downriver to the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods by rising property values and rents in the French Quarter, the krewe grew in size and inspired many other such walking krewes to form as subkrewes or as separate krewes altogether. The original krewe now can be identified by the cluster of crabnets and the presence of the Storyville Stompers.
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. On the south, the Ninth Ward is bounded by the Mississippi River. On the western or "upriver" side, the Ninth Ward is bounded by Franklin Avenue, then Almonaster Avenue, then People's Avenue. From the north end of People's Avenue the boundary continues on a straight line north to Lake Pontchartrain; this line is the boundary between the Ninth and the city's Eighth Ward. The Lake forms the north and northeastern end of the ward. St. Bernard Parish is the boundary to the southeast, Lake Borgne farther southeast and east, and the end of Orleans Parish to the east at the Rigolets.
In New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, downtown has historically referred to neighborhoods along the Mississippi River, downriver from Canal Street – including the French Quarter, Tremé, Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, the 9th Ward, and other neighborhoods. Contrary to the common usage of the term downtown in other cities, this historic application of the term excluded the New Orleans Central Business District. The term continues to be employed as it has been historically, although many younger people and migrants from other parts of the country will use "downtown" as it is used elsewhere; that is, to mean the Central Business District/Warehouse District area.
The Lower Ninth Ward is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. As the name implies, it is part of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward is often thought of as the entire area within New Orleans downriver of the Industrial Canal; however, the City Planning Commission divides this area into the Lower Ninth Ward and Holy Cross neighborhoods.
Uptown is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, encompassing a number of neighborhoods between the French Quarter and the Jefferson Parish line. It remains an area of mixed residential and small commercial properties, with a wealth of 19th-century architecture. It includes part or all of Uptown New Orleans Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 8th Ward is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is one of the Downtown Wards of New Orleans, with a Creole history.
The 7th Ward is a legally defined voting ward and a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A sub-district of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the New Orleans City Planning Commission are: A.P. Tureaud Avenue, Agriculture, Allen, Industry, St. Anthony, Duels, Frenchmen and Hope Streets to the north, Elysian Fields Avenue to the east, St. Claude and St. Bernard Avenues, North Rampart Street and Esplanade Avenue to the south, and North Broad Street to the west.
The city planning commission for New Orleans divided the city into 13 planning districts and 73 distinct neighborhoods in 1980. Although initially in the study 68 neighborhoods were designated, and later increased by the City Planning Commission to 76 in October 2001 based in census data, most planners, neighborhood associations, researchers, and journalists have since widely adopted the 73 as the number and can even trace the number back to the early 1900s. While most of these assigned boundaries match with traditional local designations, some others differ from common traditional use. This is a result of the city planning commission's wish to divide the city into sections for governmental planning and zoning purposes without crossing United States census tract boundaries. While most of the listed names have been in common use by New Orleanians for generations, some designated names are rarely heard outside the planning commission's usage.
The Sliver by the River is a nickname for the area of New Orleans, Louisiana, closest to the Mississippi River, which escaped major flooding after Hurricane Katrina hit the city on August 29, 2005. It exists on higher ground, the natural levee built up by centuries of flooding before there was human settlement. It generally corresponds to the mid-19th-century Crescent City nickname for the city.
Rampart Street is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Elysian Fields Avenue is a broad, straight avenue in New Orleans named after the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. It courses south to north from the Lower Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, a distance of approximately 5 miles (8.0 km). The avenue intersects with Interstate 610, Interstate 10, and U.S. Highway 90, Gentilly Boulevard passing by Brother Martin High School. The part between North Claiborne Avenue and Gentilly Boulevard is Louisiana Highway 3021 ; the piece from N. Claiborne Avenue south to St. Claude Avenue carries Louisiana Highway 46.
Royal Street is a street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. It is one of the original streets of the city, dating from the early 18th century, and is known today for its antique shops, art galleries, and hotels.
Decatur Street is a street in the French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA that runs parallel to the Mississippi River. Decatur was formerly known as "Levee Street" or Rue de la Levée, as it was originally the location of the levee. In 1870, when the river had altered its course, it was renamed "Decatur Street" in honor of the naval hero Stephen Decatur Jr.
Esplanade Avenue is a historic street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It runs northwest from the Mississippi River to Beauregard Circle at the entrance to City Park.
Frenchmen Street is in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is best known for the three-block section in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood which since the 1980s has developed as the center of many popular live-music venues, including Cafe Negril, Favela Chic, Vaso, Apple Barrel, Blue Nile, Snug Harbor, the Spotted Cat, and the Maison. In addition the street has numerous restaurants, bars, a premier bicycle shop, a record store, a book shop, and other local businesses.
St. Roch is a neighborhood of the U.S. city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Lafreniere Street, Paris Avenue, I-610, Benefit Street, and Dahlia Walk to the north; People's and Almonaster Avenues to the east; St. Claude Avenue to the south; Elysian Fields Avenue, Hope, Frenchmen, Duels, St. Anthony, Industry, Allen, & Agriculture Streets, A.P. Tureaud Avenue, Abundance, Republic, Treasure, & Dugue Streets, and Florida & St. Bernard Avenues to the west.
Holy Cross is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Lower Ninth Ward District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: St. Claude Avenue to the north, St. Bernard Parish to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and the Industrial Canal to the west.