Shrewsbury, Louisiana

Last updated
RiverShack Tavern, Shrewsbury RivershackBikeNov08.jpg
RiverShack Tavern, Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is an unincorporated community in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States [1] , along the Mississippi River and Shrewsbury Road about 1 mile upriver from the border of the city of New Orleans. The name came into use in the mid-19th century, and became less commonly used towards the end of the 20th century, when surrounding communities of unincorporated Jefferson grew together as a suburb of New Orleans. The area is now generally known as Old Jefferson and is part of the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area. [2]

During the early 20th century, Shrewsbury Road was an official link in the Jefferson Highway (State Route 1, and later U.S. Route 61) and provided the main automobile route into New Orleans via Metairie Road. It faded in importance as new and more direct routes into the city were constructed, namely the extensions of Jefferson Highway (1928) and Airline Highway (1940) into South Claiborne Avenue and Tulane Avenue, respectively. The final blow came in June 1957 when the railroad crossing on Shrewsbury Road was closed following completion of the nearby Causeway Boulevard overpass, leaving the once prominent road discontinuous.

In 1915, Shrewsbury was connected to New Orleans by two streetcar lines. The first was the Orleans-Kenner interurban line (popularly known as the O-K Line), which provided service between Kenner and downtown New Orleans along the Jefferson Highway/Claiborne Avenue corridor. The second was an extension of the Napoleon Avenue streetcar line completed in 1915 with service along Metairie Road to Shrewsbury Road. The O-K Line was discontinued in 1930, and the Napoleon Avenue streetcar was cut back in 1934 and replaced by the Metairie bus line.

In 1917, the Jefferson Park Race Track was opened near the intersection of Jefferson Highway and Shrewsbury Road and was a favorite horse racing venue for many years. The site was converted into the Jefferson Park residential subdivision in 1948.

The area is also home to the Camp Parapet Powder Magazine, one of the last remnants of the American Civil War in the New Orleans area.

Shrewsbury, Louisiana is referred to in the Rhythm & Blues song Shrewsbury Blues, written by Dave Bartholomew and recorded by Tommy Ridgeley, a native of the area. [3] [4]

Coordinates: 29°58′16″N90°08′32″W / 29.97111°N 90.14222°W / 29.97111; -90.14222

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Orleans Regional Transit Authority</span> Public transit operator in New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority is a public transportation agency based in New Orleans. The agency was established by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1979, and has operated bus and historic streetcar service throughout the city since 1983. With an annual ridership of over 18.6 million riders, the Regional Transit Authority is the largest public transit agency in the state of Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson, Louisiana</span> Census-designated place in Louisiana, United States

Jefferson is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the north side of the Mississippi River. Jefferson is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner metropolitan statistical area. The population was 11,193 at the 2010 census, and 10,533 in 2020. It is often known by locals as "Old Jefferson", but should not be confused with Old Jefferson in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenner, Louisiana</span> City in Louisiana, United States

Kenner is a city in Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in Jefferson Parish, and is the largest incorporated suburban city of New Orleans. The population was 66,448 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metairie, Louisiana</span> Census-designated place in Louisiana, United States

Metairie is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish and was the fifth-largest CDP in the United States. It is an unincorporated area that would have been Louisiana's fourth-largest city behind Shreveport if incorporated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Ridge, Louisiana</span> Census-designated place in Louisiana, United States

River Ridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 13,591 in 2020.

The Jefferson Highway was an automobile highway stretching through the central United States from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Jefferson Highway was replaced with the new numbered US Highway system in the late 1920s. Portions of the highway are still named Jefferson Highway, for example: the portions that run through Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana; Lee's Summit, Missouri; Osseo, Minnesota; and Wadena, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streetcars in New Orleans</span>

Streetcars in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city's public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. The longest of New Orleans' streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue line, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world. Today, the streetcars are operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 90 Business (New Orleans, Louisiana)</span> Highway in New Orleans, Louisiana

U.S. Highway 90 Business is a business route of U.S. Highway 90 located in and near New Orleans, Louisiana. It runs 14.25 miles (22.93 km) in a general east–west direction from US 90 in Avondale to a junction with Interstate 10 (I-10) and US 90 in the New Orleans Central Business District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airline Highway</span>

Airline Highway is a divided highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana, built in stages between 1925 and 1953 to bypass the older Jefferson Highway. It runs 115.6 miles (186.0 km), carrying U.S. Highway 61 from New Orleans northwest to Baton Rouge and U.S. Highway 190 from Baton Rouge west over the Mississippi River on the Huey P. Long Bridge. US 190 continues west towards Opelousas on an extension built at roughly the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 1</span> Highway in Louisiana

Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is a state highway in Louisiana. At 431.88 miles (695.04 km), it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana. It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil and gas fields near the island of Grand Isle with the northwest corner of the state, north of Shreveport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 90 in Louisiana</span> Highway in Louisiana

U.S. Highway 90 (US 90), one of the major east–west U.S. Highways in the Southern United States, runs through southern Louisiana for 297.6 miles (478.9 km), serving Lake Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia, Morgan City, and New Orleans. Much of it west of Lafayette and east of New Orleans has been supplanted by Interstate 10 (I-10) for all but local traffic, but the section between Lafayette and New Orleans runs a good deal south of I-10.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earhart Expressway</span>

The Earhart Expressway, named for former New Orleans Commissioner of Public Utilities, Fred A. Earhart, is a state highway located in both Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish, Louisiana. It is also designated as Louisiana Highway 3139, spanning a total of 5.2 miles (8.4 km). Although it is an odd-numbered highway and is bannered north/south, it travels in a more east-to-west direction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 611</span>

Louisiana Highway 611 is a collection of three current and ten former state-maintained streets in Jefferson, Metairie, and New Orleans. All thirteen routes were established with the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 49</span>

Louisiana Highway 49 (LA 49) is a state highway located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. It runs 3.93 miles (6.32 km) in a north–south direction along Williams Boulevard from U.S. Highway 61 (US 61) to an intersection with Joe Yenni Boulevard and 44th Street in Kenner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 3152</span>

Louisiana Highway 3152 is a state highway in Louisiana that serves Jefferson Parish. LA 3152 spans 3.8 miles (6.1 km) in a south to north direction and is known locally as South Clearview Parkway and Clearview Parkway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 51 in Louisiana</span>

U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that spans 1,277 miles (2,055 km) from LaPlace, Louisiana to a point north of Hurley, Wisconsin. Within the state of Louisiana, the highway travels 69.12 miles (111.24 km) from the national southern terminus at US 61 in LaPlace to the Mississippi state line north of Kentwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana State Route 1</span>

Louisiana State Route 1 was one of the 98 original state highways that were established in 1924. It was signed for the Jefferson Highway, an auto trail that ran from New Orleans to Winnipeg. LA 1 curved through the entire state, spanning from Shreveport through Alexandria and Baton Rouge to New Orleans, ending south of Pointe a la Hache. It was renumbered for the most part as US 71 and US 171.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Highway 613</span>

Louisiana Highway 613 was a collection of four state-maintained streets in Metairie and New Orleans established with the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering. All four routes have since been deleted from the state highway system.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Shrewsbury, Louisiana
  2. "Demolition begins on Morris Motel, a landmark for black community in Shrewsbury".
  3. "Tommy Ridgley: "Shrewsbury Blues" – Spontaneous Lunacy".
  4. "Tommy Ridgley". 30 October 2013.