Amtrak Kenner – The City of New Orleans heading out of and into downtown.
Amtrak Kenner
Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, #58 (Northbound), passing through Kenner, Louisiana, approximately 20 minutes out of Union Passenger Terminal (NOL). The train picks up speed as it leaves the New Orleans metro area, to head out along Lake Pontchartrain. So, after clearing the lake, it turns north (on the old IC, now CN tracks) to run parallel to I-55, and off to Chicago. Therefore, the route is essentially unchanged from the days when the Illinois Central operated the all-Pullman “Panama Limited” and the City.
This intersection is Williams Boulevard, in the “Laketown” section of the city of Kenner. While the platform to the left of the tracks is now unused, it was built to be the terminus of an experimental Amtrak line that ran from here to NOL in 1984. The plan was to connect the suburbs with a rail diesel car for commuter service. The concept didn’t last beyond the trial period, which coincided with the 1984 World’s Fair in downtown New Orleans.
Consist:
Dorm/Sleeper
Diner (Cross Country Cafe – CCC)
Lounge
Coach x2
Sleeper
The train is pulled by a single GE P-42 Genesis locomotive.
Heading to New Orleans
The Southbound/inbound trip is Amtrak #59. Like the northbound train, #59 is approximately 20 minutes away from arrival at Union Passenger Terminal (NOL). The train still moves quickly through Kenner, as it enters the metro area from Lake Pontchartrain.
At some point during the 8 minutes separating the northbound and southbound trains at this point, they passed each other, then #59 changed to the north (lake side in NOLA geographic terms), approaching NOL on the track #58 used to depart.
The southbound consist differs from #58 in that it has one more coach car. As on #58, the train is pulled by a single Genesis locomotive. Unlike the Crescent and Sunset Limited trains, the trip up the Mississippi Valley only requires the power of one engine.
Rivertown
The school off to the left (lake) side of the tracks is Our Lady of Perpetual Help School. OLPH is the oldest Catholic parish in Jefferson Parish.
The traditional Thanksgiving meal is so not New Orleans. Our Creole-French and Creole-Italian roots don’t mesh with classic turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes. Oh, sure, we can’t help but add our local twists to the meal, like oyster dressing, or stuffed peppers with a bit of red gravy. Still, it’s not our food.
Going out to celebrate the holiday is very much a New Orleans thing, though. We’ve never been the dinner-and-the-theater type of people. We go out to eat, of course. Well, on Thanksgiving, folks go to Da Track, then out to eat.
Undecided about where to go? On 23-Nov-1968, the Times-Picayune included ads for a number of restaurants. Those places knew people would forget to make reservations at their favorites. Then there were the visitors who needed some place to enjoy dinner.
Le Cafe at the Monteleone
The Monteleone Hotel offered a Thanksgiving buffet. They included the usual Thanksgiving fare, along with “Louisiana Speckled Trout Cardinal” and “Sugar Cured Ham with Champagne Sauce.” That trout likely enticed more than a few visitors who can’t get that back north.
Second only to mom
Delerno’s opened for Thanksgiving 1968 at their place on Pink and Focis Streets, just off Metairie Road. (Ad up top.)
All the usuals, plus turkey
Louisiana Purchase Restaurant added turkey to their regular menu of “Authentic Creole, Acadian & New Orleans Cooking” for New Orleans Thanksgiving 1968. The restaurant was at 4241 Veterans in 1968. That location was later Houston’s Restaurant and is now Boulevard American Bistro. Louisiana Purchase Kitchen moved further up the street, to 8853 Veterans, Blvd.
Hotel Thanksgiving
Clementine’s at the New Orleans Airport Hilton offered diners “Roast Turkey with Oyster Dressing,” along with other sides, and, like any solid local hotel restaurant, gumbo. Clementine’s as the hotel restaurant is ATNM, but the Airport Hilton, at 901 Airline Drive, is still there more.
No Wild Boar
T. Pittari’s on South Claiborne advertised a limited menu for Thanksgiving, 1968. While the restaurant’s regular advertising made a big deal about their wild game entrees, Thanksgiving meant classics. Roast Turkey with Oyster Dressing, the New Orleans staple for the day. Additionally, Pittari’s offered Filet of Lake Trout Amandine (a New Orleans Platonic Dish), and Baby Veal Milanese with Spaghettini, one of the restaurant’s Creole-Italian favorites.
Moisant Airport in the 1960s. what we now call “the old terminal.”
Moisant Airport
As we approach Thanksgiving and Yuletide, Da Airport picks up its pace. In 1960, what we now think f as “the old terminal” opened for business. These postcard shots of the main terminal at Moisant Field, from Mr. Garrett L. Robertson of Metairie, show the completed front facade and interior. So, the airport, which opened in 1946, operated from a terminal in a large hangar building. Mayor Chep Morrison spearheaded the new terminal project. Construction began in 1959. While this terminal served the airport from 1960 to 2019, calls for a new airport came throughout its history. The “new terminal” opened in 2019.
Moisant Stock Yards
The airport’s IATA code, MSY, stands for Moisant Stock Yards. John Moisant was an aviation pioneer and stunt pilot. He died in a crash on the site of the airport in 1910. Agricultural facilities on the site took his name. New Orleans Lakefront Airport (originally named Sushan Airport) had the IATA code NEW. Therefore, the new airport in Kenner required something different. Moisant fit, hence MSY. The code confounds visitors to this day.
Original Terminal
The main building stood on Airline Highway. It offered an appealing visual as visitors and locals alike came out. The spacious interior included restaurants, lounges, and other amenities for travelers. So, gates extended via a concourse directly behind the terminal building. As the airport grew in capacity, the facility built more gates. Concourses “A” and “B” opened in 1974.
The original gates underwent renovation in 1992, becoming “C” concourse. Additionally, Delta and United Airlines moved to “D” concourse, upon its completion in 1996.
Pops
The airport’s name evolved from Moisant Field to Moisant Airport, to New Orleans International Airport. The airport retained its MSY code throughout. So, in 2001, the Aviation Board officially changed the airport’s name. It became “Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.” This marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late jazz great Louis Armstrong,
The Kenner library branch in 1949 was on Airline Highway.
Kenner Library Branch
Photo of the interior of the Kenner Branch of the Jefferson Parish Library in 1949. The caption from the State Library of Louisiana reads: “B&W photo, Circa 1940s. Jefferson Parish library. Kenner, Louisiana. Airline Hwy. Left to right: Mrs. Beatrice Hidalgo and Mrs. Dixie Stephens.” If anyone knew these ladies, let us know in comments! The Kenner Branch at this time was on Airline Highway, near Williams Blvd. The branch later moved to Williams Blvd, near Kenner City Hall, in the 1960s.
Jefferson Parish Library System
The Jefferson Parish Police Jury authorized a public library for the parish in 1946. In 1949, the first public library opened at Huey P. Long Avenue and Fourth Street, By December of 1949, branches opened in Gretna. Metairie, Jefferson, Kenner, Harahan, Marrero, Gretna, and Westwego. The parish converted existing buildings to libraries. This enabled the quick expansion. Growth of the library system continued into the 1950s and 1960s. In Kenner, the original branch re-located, and a North Kenner branch opened. This fit the growth pattern of Kenner, as folks moved above Veterans Blvd.
Hurricane damage
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita inflicted serious damage to a number of parish library branches. For example, Hurricane Rita damaged 33% of the North Kenner branch. While libraries play important roles in building communities, repairing such damage was a challenge. It’s not something that happens overnight. Fortunately, the system continues to recover and grow.
My branches
Growing up in Old Metairie, we used the branch at Metairie Road and Atherton St. So, that branch later moved further up Metairie Road to its current location. While it received damage from Katrina, the branch now thrives. When we bought our house, the Wagner Library, by Bissonet Plaza Elementary was our branch. Now, the East Bank Regional Library is home, to family, and to our small writers’ group.
Kenner Sanborn maps offer insight into the city in 1926.
Kenner Sanborn maps
This plate shows a section of Kenner, LA. Fire insurance companies used these maps to set rates for customers. Kenner Sanborn maps provide the underwriter with details on structures, streets, and railroads. They offer the historian a rich set of information on the evolution of a metro area. This map shows the area from what is now the Canadian National (formerly Illinois Central) right of way at Kenner Avenue, down to 3rd Street, towards the river. In modern Kenner, the top of this map marks the start of “Rivertown,” along Williams Boulevard.
Fire insurance
David Alfred Sanborn lined up clients for his map project in 1866. His work gained traction quickly. Insurance companies sought improvements in setting rates. He began with Boston and expanded to other large cities. Sanborn mapped the details insurance companies desired to set competitive rates. By 1916, Sanborn’s company grew to the point where they bought out all of their major competitors. So, by the creation of Kenner Sanborn maps 1926, these maps were the standard.
Kenner in 1926
The maps illustrate the city’s role at the time. Kenner was the “town” that Sicilian truck farmers drove to when they went “into town,” for supplies, news, and social functions. Kenner had two Baptist churches (segregated) and a Catholic parish, St. Mary’s. The archdiocese renamed St. Marys to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 1936.
Railroads
Railroad links defined Kenner in 1926. Kenner Sanborn maps show three railroads, the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company Railroad, and the Illinois Central Railroad. The IC splits at Kenner. The IC segment turns north, heading across Lake Pontchartrain to Hammond, LA. The Yazoo and Mississippi Railroad continues west. “Kid Ory” and his jazz band took the Yazoo and Mississippi into New Orleans from LaPlace, to play gigs in the city on weekends.
The map shows freight and passenger platforms on the IC line, along with a number of industries on both sides of the railroad right-of-way.
“Shoemaker in his shop. Kenner, Louisiana,” by Russell Lee. Lee was a documentary photographer. He worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. Lee traveled extensively, documenting life during the mid-late 1930s. He caught this shoemaker at work in Kenner in 1938.
Russell Lee
UT Austin maintains a collection of Lee’s post-FSA work. This is their biographical note:
Documentary photographer Russell Lee was born in Illinois in 1903. Trained as a chemical engineer and a painter, he took his first photographs in 1935. He worked for the Farm Security Administration from 1936 to 1942 and remained active in the field of documentary photography until 1977. Lee, who enjoyed a reputation for technical excellence and sensitivity to his subjects, moved to Austin, Texas, in 1947. Although he often traveled as a free-lance photographer and on assignment for magazines, corporations, the federal government, and the University of Texas, Austin remained his home and Texas a major focus of his work until his death in 1986. From 1965 to 1973 he taught photography at the University of Texas.
The Farm Security Administration photos provide a deep-dive look into New Orleans, from shots like this, a rural slice of life, to war production at Higgins Industries.
Kenner in the 1930s
The City of Kenner, Louisiana, stands on land initially occupied by the Tchoupitoulas indigenous tribe. French initially named the area, Cannes-Brûlées. Phillip Minor Kenner established the Belle Grove Plantation, at what is now the area around Williams Boulevard and Jefferson Highway. Additionally, the Kenner family established two more plantations in the area. So, the city took the family name.
Kenner connected to New Orleans via the Orleans-Kenner Railroad. The OK-RR operated from 1915 to 1931. So, by the time of this photo in 1838, Jefferson Highway provided connectivity.
People of Kenner
Lee’s shoemaker is unidentified. After the Southern Rebellion, many of the Sicilians that immigrated to New Orleans moved out to Kenner. They established farms on the former plantation land. These were called “truck farms” because the farmers would load crops on pickup trucks and bring them to the public markets in New Orleans. Some used the OK-RR. They loaded the interurban cars with their crops. Family members picked them up at the Uptown New Orleans terminal.
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