Many railroads and airlines operated ticket agent offices at the St. Charles Hotel.
The St. Charles Hotel was Travel Central
Photo of the Eastern Airlines ticket office on the ground floor of the St. Charles Hotel, early 1950s. Photo is from Franck Studios, via THNOC. The St. Charles was one of the city’s premier hotels since its opening in 1837. Since it attracted so many business travelers, the hotel leased out storefront space on the ground floor to railroads, and later, airlines. This started back in the early 20th century and continued well into the 1960s. After the opening of the Union Passenger Terminal in 1954, many of the railroads offering passenger service moved ticket operations to the station. It wasn’t all that far, and tickets could be delivered back to travelers staying at the hotel by messenger.
Eastern Airlines
After World War II, commercial airline travel increased dramatically. Therefore, airlines moved into storefronts previously occupied by the railroads. Eastern Airlines began operations in 1926. After the war, the airline ran regular flights from New Orleans to Miami (its headquarters and hub), and New York City. While Delta dominated air travel from New Orleans to Atlanta, Eastern also flew the route. The airline offered personal service to travelers in the CBD with this ticket office.
Third St. Charles
Eastern’s ticket office stood in the third (and final) incarnation of the St. Charles Hotel. After the second hotel burned down in 1894, this incarnation opened in 1896. So, in terms of travel service, this building ruled over the planes and trains. Streetcar routes were designed to pass by the hotel and all the major railroad terminals. The St. Charles lasted until 1974. The owner, Louis J, Roussel, Jr., demolished the hotel that year. He intended to build a massive, 800-room hotel on the site, but that plan never materialized. After ten years as an empty lot, the Place St. Charles office tower replaced the hotel. Capital One Bank now claims the naming rights for the building.
Section of a Sanborn Fire Map for Mid-City New Orleans, from 1950-1951, showing a roundhouse and turntable facility. The roundhouse stood inside Southern Railway’s Bernadotte Yard, in the block bounded by N. Scott, St. Louis, N. Cortez, and Conti Streets. The yard tracks ran (more-or-less) from Canal Boulevard, across from Greenwood Cemetery, following St. Louis Street to just past Norman C. Francis Parkway. The tracks merged into a single pair, heading along St. Louis St. to Basin St., where they turned into Terminal Station at Canal and Basin.
The yard serviced a number of industrial sites in Mid-City. On one side of the roundhouse stood Inland Steel Company’s plant, with a Sears, Roebuck warehouse on the other. American Can Company operated their factory just two blocks away. So, this part of New Orleans was heavily industrialized. This limited the size of the residential areas of Mid-City, going into the 1950s. The New Canal, now I-10) to the West and the railroad to the East. Canal Street served as the main street in the neighborhood. So much industry along railroad and canal enticed families living in the French Quarter, Marigny, and Treme towards the lake.
Engine facilities
The railroad required a parking and maintenance facility for its equipment in the yard. Additionally, locomotives for Southern’s passenger trains required a facility. While the passenger depot stood at Canal and Basin Streets, there was no room for parking. So, Southern Railroad constructed a turntable and roundhouse for both. The map shows three tracks connecting building and turntable, but a note says “full of tracks.” It looks like there were six or eight tracks going into the roundhouse. Two tracks approached the turntable from the lake side, with a single through track and a siding on the river side.
Little trace
Google Earth screenshot of the location of the roundhouse.
In spite of the heavy industrialization of this neighborhood during and after World War II, few traces of all these operations remain. Most of the factories and warehouse were demolished or re-purposed. The area now features a mix of commercial strip malls, warehouse, and houses. We’ll add on to this exploration of the Bernadotte Yard going forward. I have little information on this facility behold the map. If anyone can point me towards more details, please drop me a note.
Citation
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Sanborn Map Company, – Jul 1950; Vol. 2, 1951. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn03376_026/.
Like St. Aloysius, Cor Jesu Senior Rings were a Big Deal.
Cor Jesu Senior Rings
So, the Class of 2025 have their rings. Tonight, they’ll celebrate at their Ring Dance. While the Kingsmen didn’t have the Brother Mark Thornton Terrace for a dance venue, I’m sure they knew how to party.
Here’s a ring from the class of 1958. The ring shows the school’s name, with the city below the stone. The font for the “CJ” encrusting provides a bit of flourish. While the concept art for the first BMHS ring didn’t include it, the production design included the city’s name.
One side presents the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a scroll proclaiming “Amateur Cor Jesu” (Loved be the Heart of Jesus). This Sacred Heart image is similar to the mosaic which hung in the Brother Martin High School main entrance for years. I don’t know if it dates back to Cor Jesu. That mosaic currently hangs in the Brother Jean Sobert Advancement Building. So integral to the school’s traditions and the Institute is this proclamation, Cor Jesu High School’s name is oft-repeated in modern times.
Below the Sacred Heart is a small shield containing the “19” of the class year.
The other side of the ring completes the class year, with “58” in a shield. The ring features an image of the main entrance of the school, including the two-story classroom building on Elysian Fields. This image remains relatively unchanged in the BMHS era. While the entrance morphed into a more formal space in the 1990s, walking past now triggers fond memories for Kingsmen.
Dance Favors
While so many of us went to our class ring dance, it was a casual date. Sure, there were the guys who barely wore their rings because they gave them to their steady girl. The majority of us took a date to the dance, had a great time, and created a fond memory. This is a prom favor representing the Cor Jesu Senior Rings. This specifically says, “Senior Prom.” I don’t know if CJ had a ring dance favor, but we did at BMHS in the 1970s. If anyone has one of those favors, please send me a photo of it!
Congratulations again to the BMHS Class of 2025, and blessings to the Kingsmen who passed their traditions on to these young men.
The Crescent and Airline were popular for drive-in summertime.
Drive-in Summertime for the movies
Two views of the Crescent Drive-in, in the 1601 block of Airline Highway, and one of the Airline Drive-in, down the street at 4000 Airline. While there was a drive-in theater in Lakeview during World War II, these theaters peaked in low-value locations in Jefferson and St. Bernard Parishes.
Before Maison Blanche
McKenzie’s, 1759 Air-Line Highway
The Crescent appealed to folks in Mid-City New Orleans. While it was two miles or so to the west of S. Carrollton and Tulane Avenues, developers built the drive-in on (at the time) low-value property. Additionally, a small strip center popped up next to the drive-in. McKenzie’s opened there first, in 1951. It was the first McKenzie’s in Jefferson Parish.
The vibe of drive-in summertime at the Crescent lasted into the fifties. Property values skyrocketed after WWII. It made more sense to develop the drive-in for other purposes. So, the owners of the Crescent moved further out of town. They opened the Airline in 1950. That drive-in lasted until 1980. A Sam’s Club store now stands on the site.
This photo of the Airline’s marquee displays the Gene Kelly-Frank Sinatra movie “On The Town.” While the movie opened in theaters in 1949, it migrated to the drive-in a few months later, in 1950.
Theater to Department Store
Crescent’s marquee in 1956, after it was re-developed.
So, the Crescent shut down. Developers constructed the Airline Village Shopping Center. Maison Blanche leased space there. They moved the Carrollton to Airline Village. MB converted Carrollton into a “Budget Store.” Airline became the chain’s first store outside of the city. MB promoted the new store on the Crescent’s marquee until a proper sign for the shopping center could be constructed.
When MB opened the store in Clearview Shopping Center, Airline remained for several years. The short distance between Old Metairie to Airline Village enabled the chain to keep the store alive. This was in marked contrast to Gentilly, where Gentilly Woods immediately closed upon the opening of The Plaza at Lake Forest.
All three photos here are from Franck Studios, courtesy THNOC.
Another quick one from the archives. This is the Student Handbook for Cor Jesu High School, the predecessor school to Brother Martin High School on Elysian Fields. It’s a full rulebook, a breakdown of expectations the school had for students. Every school has one, including St. Aloysius and BMHS.
A quick flip through this handbook confirmed that it was indeed your basic set of rules. Then I came across Penance Hall:
Students who violate school regulations are usually assigned to Penance Hall, which begins at ten minutes after dismissal bell.
Section of the Cor Jesu Student Handbook on “Penance Hall”
Nothing says “Catholic School” quite like institutions like “Penance Hall.” Let’s face it, other schools have detention. “The Breakfast Club” is an entire movie set during a weekend detention session. But penance is so wonderfully Catholic.
I did find a St. Aloysius student handbook, but a quick glance of that booklet didn’t list a detention/penance hall setup. I’ll put it to you Crimson-and-White Crusaders. What did y’all call it?
Evolution to BMHS
The Cor Jesu Penance Hall continued into Brother Martin, but not by that name. It was simply “detention,” when I got there in the fall of 1971. Mr. Louis Levy was Vice Principal and Disciplinarian. Now, even though I never received official school detention, we usually held practice for the Debate team in the “old” hallway, the original Cor Jesu building. That’s also where Mr. Levy held detention. So, we learned the details of the process.
Mr. Levy came in the room (and mind you, I’m paraphrasing) and explained how the hour worked. “Gentlemen, you are going to learn to dance. You will dance by my numbers and by my steps…”
Naturally, detention period became known as “Mr. Levy’s Ninth Period Dance Class.”
I’m not sure what sort of busy work Dance Class attendees did during ninth period. I encourage any alums of Dance Class to share some details!
Archives Update
This booklet is typical of a lot of the things I’ve found in only two weeks of digging in the archival storage rooms. So far, it’s been a blast. I found this first copy in with a bunch of Cor Jesu football programs. Since that first copy, I’ve turned up two more. I took quick photos of the cover and Penance Hall with the phone. By tomorrow, we should have the workspace set up with laptop and scanner, to make full copies of these memories.
Looking Up Canal Boulevard and the underpass from the 5400 block.
Up Canal Boulevard
Franck Studios Photo titled, Up Canal Boulevard from the 5400 block (LDL/The Historic New Orleans Collection). Photo shows a Southern Railway’s “Southerner” passenger train, about fifteen minutes after departure from Union Passenger Terminal (UPT) downtown. The Works Progress Administration constructed this and several other underpasses for the “Back Belt” route in 1940. The underpasses created a path for the trains that had no grade crossings with roads. Once a train leaves UPT (or a freight train enters Orleans Parish), there are no grade crossings until it crosses Lake Pontchartrain.
5500 Canal Boulevard
view up Canal Boulevard from the top of the train bridge in the 5500 block (Franck Studios Photo)
This photo shows the other side of the underpass. Traffic heading to the lakefront travels on the right, including an old-style NOPSI bus. While it’s not physically difficult to climb up to the bridge and tracks, it’s not recommended. A Cloverleaf Dairy delivery truck pulls into the street on the left.
THNOC includes their generic record notation for this photo. That lists the date as 1941. That’s not accurate, though, since the trains didn’t pass over Canal Boulevard until after UPT opened in 1954. So, this train rolls out of town in the 1950s. The Southerner followed a route from New Orleans to Atlanta using Southern Railway routes exclusively. The Crescent Limited and Crescent trains traveled from Mobile to New Orleans on Louisville and Nashville tracks along the Gulf Coast.
Amtrak
The Back Belt carries a great deal of freight traffic. The route connects freight yards in Avondale (UP and BNSF) and Metairie (CN and KCS) with the Norfolk Southern yard in Gentilly and CSX yard in New Orleans East. There’s a single Amtrak train, the Amtrak Crescent, traveling this route. Amtrak assumed operations of the Crescent from Southern in 1977. The train runs daily from UPT, arriving at New York Penn Station (NYP) the following day. Here’s the Amtrak Crescent crossing Canal Boulevard, 28-December-2023:
Two engines, AMTK 83, a GE P42DC “Genesis” and AMTK 338, a Siemens “Charger” pull a consist of three coaches, a cafe car, two sleepers and a bag-dorm car. The train will reach New York Penn Station the next day.
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