NOLA History Guy
The Blog
Vernon Smith turned NORTA 29 into “The Littlest Streetcar”
Vernon Smith gives NORTA 29 a personality! Vernon Smith I had the privilege of attending a book event last Friday, at St. Francis Xavier Parish, on Metairie Road. There were over twenty authors there. I knew many of the authors. I also enjoyed meeting some new folks,...
read more
Feibleman’s, 1923 – Leon Fellman’s family renames his store
Feibelman's replaces Leon Fellman's upon the passing of the patriarch Feibleman's Store The department store operated at 800 Canal Street, corner Carondelet, for eleven years. The store was Leon Fellman's until 1920. The store's name changed when Leon Fellman passed...
read more
New Orleans Public Belt Railroad – Servicing the Port since 1908 #TrainThursday
New Orleans Public Belt Railroad owns the Riverfront New Orleans Public Belt Railroad NOPB launched an updated website this Fall. They also unveiled a new logo for the system. The Class III railroad opened for business in 1908. They own a number of facilities in the...
read more
Arabella Station Serviced the Uptown Lines #StreetcarMonday
Arabella Station on Magazine Street is now the Whole Foods Uptown location Arabella Station The big barn at Magazine and Arabella Streets serviced streetcars until 1948. NOPSI needed a bus facility uptown. So, they operated Arabella as a bus barn. The top photo is...
read more
Canal Street 1918 – Armistice Day – November 11, 1918
Canal Street 1918 - Armistice Day in New Orleans was a day of celebration. Canal Street 1918 The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. The End of World War I was marked with celebration in New Orleans. There's a seven hour difference between New...
read more
Illinois Central Railroad – Ads through the years #TrainThursday
Illinois Central Railroad ads through the years. Service from Chicago to New Orleans. Illinois Central Railroad Riding on the City of New Orleans Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders Three conductors and...
read more
Streetcar accidents – NOPSI 888 back at Carrollton Station
Streetcar accidents happen when automobile drivers don't look Streetcar accidents Just this week, a garbage truck turned in front of NORTA 900, on Canal Street. Streetcar accidents happen once or twice a year. 1947 accident Today's photo shows...
read moreNew Orleans L&N Railroad Station on Canal Street – #Train Thursday
New Orleans History L&N Railroad Station Canal Street - #Train Thursday New Orleans History L&N Railroad Station Canal Street The Louisville and Nashville Railroad operated for 132 years, from 1850 to 1982. The L&N began in Kentucky. The Class I...
read more
New Orleans History – All Souls Day, All Saints, and All Hallows Eve
New Orleans History - All Souls Day and above ground cemeteries in New Orleans in celebration of Halloween! New Orleans History - All Souls, Saints, and All Hallows Eve Ghosts and ghouls and goblins! All Hallows’ Eve is upon us! New...
read more
Trackless Trolleys on the Magazine Street Line – #StreetcarMonday
Trackless Trolleys, also known as "trolley buses" Trackless Trolleys Electric buses, "trackless trolleys", operated on several New Orleans transit lines over the years. In the 1920s, NORwy&Lt/NOPSI experimented with the buses. By...
read more
Fortier High School football – friday night lights in the forties
Fortier High School football - FNL Fortier High School Football This is a Franck Studios photo of a football team from Alcee Fortier High School. I'm thinking this is from the 1940s rather than the 1950s, but there's so little to go...
read more
Sunset Limited dining and snacking from New Orleans to Los Angeles
Sunset Limited dining across the West Sunset Limited Dining Traveling from New Orleans to Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited is a two-night affair. The Amtrak incarnation of the train departs New Orleans at 9am. The train stops in...
read more
NJROTC at Brother Martin High School, 1969 – present #BOSH
NJROTC at BMHS NJROTC was a citizenship program NJROTC began at St. Aloysius in the 1967-1968 school year. The unit continued in the final year on Esplanade and N. Rampart, then moved to Elysian Fields Avenue. So, when BMHS opened, all...
read more
Grunewald Hotel and Double-Truck Streetcar, 1911 #streetcarMonday
Grunewald Hotel would become the Roosevelt Hotel Grunewald Hotel "One of the most up-to-date and finest hotels in the U.S." is the caption on this 1911 postcard of the Grunewald Hotel. The hotel occupies the corner of Canal and...
read more
Locoul Family Tomb, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA
Locoul Family Tomb, in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Locoul Family Tomb The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) collection at the Library of Congress contains several surveys of tombs in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, in Faubourg Treme. The Locoul...
read more
Norfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge – longest in the world
Norfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge is the longest train bridge in the world. Rail operations around New Orleans require crossing over water. Lots of water. Eastbound trains traveled over land. They crossed the Chef Menteur...
read more
Girod Cemetery isn’t under Da Dome
Girod Cemetery - no, it's not cursing the Saints Girod Cemetery was the first Protestant cemetery in New Orleans Since this comes up every football season. I wrote an article about this in 2007. Let's update it a bit. The original...
read more
St. Aloysius 1948 – Brother Cyr and his freshman class
St. Aloysius 1948 remembered in 1969 St. Aloysius 1948 Brother Cyr and his freshman class, 1948. St. Aloysius High School on Esplanade and N. Rampart. The school stood on that corner from 1892. It was first the old house used by the...
read more
Hurricane Betsy demonstrated the resilience of New Orleans and MS Gulf Coast
Hurricane Betsy showed how resilient and strong the Third Coast is. Hurricane Betsy On 10-September-1965, Hurricane Betsy hit Grand Isle, Louisiana. The storm formed as a tropical depression on 27-August-1965, in the Caribbean, near...
read more
Swift Stream – New York Central sleeper car now private varnish
Swift Stream - a sleeper that isn't a pullman (cross-posted to Pontchartrain Railroad) Swift Stream Yesterday's Amtrak Crescent (#20, heading from New Orleans to New York City) pulled a guest. Budd built the Silver Swift for the New York Central...
read more
Support NOLA History Guy on Patreon
Support NOLA History Guy - sign up on Patreon.com Support NOLA History Guy I'm adding history content to my Patreon stream. I've thought about how to offer "premium" content here. A couple of people suggested ideas. Those ideas...
read more
Buried streetcar tracks are fun but not all that rare
Buried streetcar tracks are all over New Orleans Buried Streetcar Tracks The city, on its RoadWorkNOLA page on Facebook, posted a neat find--ties from streetcar tracks under the existing concrete of Bourbon Street. Streetcars...
read more
Single Truck Streetcars on Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, 1901 #StreetcarMonday
Single Truck Streetcars were common in 1901 Single Truck Streetcars Two Ford, Bacon and Davis single truck streetcars on S. Carrollton Avenue in 1901. Here's the original note attached to the photo: View of normal condition surrounding transfer...
read more
Huey P. Long Bridge HAER survey – Library of Congress
Huey P. Long Bridge HAER survey documents the old bridge. Huey P. Long Bridge HAER survey The first bridge to cross the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Huey P. Long Bridge links the east and west banks of Jefferson Parish. The bridge opened in December, 1935. US...
read more
Donaldsonville South Louisiana State Fair – Trip from New Orleans #TrainThursday
Donaldsonville South Louisiana State Fair Donaldsonville South Louisiana State Fair - Ride the train from New Orleans Advertisement for a special round-trip train to take students from New Orleans to the Donaldsonville South Louisiana State...
read more
New Orleans Centre – Shopping Downtown in the 1990s #Superdome
New Orleans Centre - downtown...
read more
Cor Jesu Football, 1968 – Friday Night Lights in New Orleans
Cor Jesu Football - fall of 1968 Cor Jesu Football The "Friday Night Lights" traditions of Brother Martin High School go back a long way. The two schools merged together to form BrM, St. Aloysius and Cor Jesu, participated in prep football. St....
read more
MP-TP Terminal 0-6-0 on the Riverfront, 1930s #TrainThursday
MP-TP Terminal 0-6-0 on the riverfront. MP-TP Terminal 0-6-0 This 0-6-0 switching engine is working the docks on the New Orleans riverfront in the late 1930s. American Locomotive Company (ALCO) built this engine in 1907. At the time of this...
read more
St. Aloysius Panther Yearbook 1933 – N. Rampart Street #BOSHbook
St. Aloysius Panther Yearbook 1933 St. Aloysius Panther Yearbook 1933 St Aloysius Panther Yearbook in 1933 featured a shot from the N. Rampart Street side, 1933. This photo is in the St. Aloysius Panther Yearbook. Esplanade and N. Rampart The...
read more
NOPSI Buses and the 900s on Canal Street #StreetcarMonday
NOPSI Buses NOPSI Buses on Canal Street NOPSI buses and not much streetcar action in this #StreetcarMonday photo. That's because it's from the 1970s. The St. Charles Line operated solo from 1964 to 1988. Buses ran on all the other lines. The...
read more
Canal Street Architecture – S. H. Kress – classic to “modern” and back
Canal Street Architecture Canal Street Architecture - S. H. Kress The S. H. Kress store on Canal Street opened in 1913. It filled the niche between the Maison Blanche building, built in 1908, and the Audubon Building, built in 1910. The store...
read more
Southern Belle – Kansas City Southern service – New Orleans to KC
Southern Belle Southern Belle - New Orleans to Kansas City The Southern Belle was the best-known named train operated by the Kansas City Southern railroad. The train ran from New Orleans to Kansas City. The Southern Belle route: Kansas City...
read more
Typing Class 1979 – Brother Martin High School
Typing Class, 1979 Typing Class 1979 Brother Lloyd LeBlanc, SC, observes his students in Typing class 1979. The "typing room" you see here was located on the inside side (further away from Elysian Fields) of the old building. You could access...
read more
Streetcar Monday: the St. Charles Hotel and “bobtails”
St. Charles Hotel St. Charles Hotel Two "bobtail" streetcars, manufactured by the Johnson Car Company, approaches the St. Charles Hotel in the 1870s. The St. Charles Hotel opened in 1837. The original building was destroyed by fire on January...
read more
New Orleans Public Belt 1941 #TrainThursday
New Orleans Public Belt 1941 New Orleans Public Belt 1941 The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad is a "short line" railroad. It operates along the Mississippi River in Metro New Orleans. The city created NOPB in 1908. They fixed the issue of...
read more
Donald Newman, BM ’75, 1957-2018
Donald Newman Donald Newman, BMHS Class of 1975 We lost a good guy yesterday. Don Newman was a year ahead of me at Brother Martin. He was a basketball player, a member of the 1973-1974 Louisiana LHSAA 4-A championship team. Newman was point guard for that team, and...
read more
Maison Blanche Bicentennial – Canal Street Shopping – 1976
Maison Blanche Bicentennial Maison Blanche Bicentennial So much 200 in 1976! Like just about every business in New Orleans, Maison Blanche went all-out in 1976 for the country's 200th birthday. While MB decorated the front of the chain's...
read more
The Southern Pacific Argonaut – the slow run to Los Angeles #TrainThursday
Southern Pacific Argonaut Southern Pacific Argonaut The Southern Pacific Argonaut ran along with the Sunset Limited train, from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Southern Pacific operated the trains, then Amtrak. The Sunset is well known because it...
read more
Southern Pacific at Union Passenger Terminal #TrainThursday
Southern Pacific at UPT Southern Pacific at UPT Passenger train cars running on Southern Pacific's "Sunset Limited" train. They're at Union Passenger Terminal, New Orleans. SP's Sunset Limited ran from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1894. Amtrak now...
read more
Ring Mass, Cor Jesu High School Class of 1969
Ring Mass Ring Mass and Ring Dance are still a big deal. The BMHS Facebook page did a "look back" on senior rings today, since the Brother Martin High Class of 2019 receive their rings at a Mass this evening. That ring is a Big Deal in a town where "Where did you go...
read more
The Spanish Fort Streetcar Line
Spanish Fort Streetcar Spanish Fort Streetcar The amusements at Spanish Fort entertained New Orleanians, from the 1880s, up to the first incarnation of Pontchartrain Beach, in 1929. Going to the fort was a day trip, and a train service brought folks out to the lake....
read more
New Orleans During the Civil War
New Orleans During the Civil War New Orleans During the Civil War I try to keep away from most Civil War subjects here on the blog. They usually end up in flame wars in comments. That doesn't mean there aren't interesting New Orleans-related topics from...
read more
St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Treme – Podcast!
St. Augustine Catholic Church St. Augustine Catholic Church - Podcast! NOLA History Guy Podcast this week is a "snippet" - a short presentation on an illustration from Emma Fick's book, Snippets of New Orleans. So, we chose Emma's illustration of St. Augustine...
read more
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, 1970s #TrainThursday
Amtrak's Sunset Limited Amtrak's Sunset Limited When Amtrak took over passenger rail service in the United States in 1971, they continued the Sunset Limited service. The Southern Pacific Railroad began the Sunset Limited in 1894. It was the second "transcontinental"...
read more
St. Aloysius, 1925 #BOSH
St. Aloysius 1925 St. Aloysius - New School for 1925 St. Aloysius College moved into their new home on Esplanade and North Rampart in 1925. The original building was a lovely mansion that was owned by the Ursuline Sisters. In 1892, the Ursulines decided to...
read more
Amtrak Crescent – “Anniversary” Locos haul to Atlanta and NYC
Amtrak Crescent off to Atlanta and NYC (cross-posted to Pontchartrain Railroad) Amtrak Crescent The Amtrak Crescent is living history. The train runs from New Orleans to New York's Penn Station daily. The train originally arrived and departed from the Louisville and...
read more
NORTA 933 on the Riverfront Line? #StreetcarSaturday
NORTA 933 on Riverfront? NORTA 933 on Riverfront? I don't remember seeing this photo before. After Hurricane Katrina, it took some time to get both the St. Charles and Canal lines back to fully operational status. The green arch roofs were, for the most...
read more
Abraham Shwartz, Canal Street
Abraham Shwartz, Canal Street Abraham Shwartz, Canal Street I didn't research Abraham Shwartz too deeply when I wrote the Maison Blanche book. His son, Simon, was the main character there, being the founder of the department store chain. So, I made a few...
read more
Visiting the Brother Martin High School library #BOSH
Brother Martin High School Library Brother Martin High School Library I stopped by Brother Martin on Monday, to bring Mrs. Aucoin, the Library's Director, the photos from the BOSH book, so they can have more digitized "old stuff". It was great to see the...
read more
Texas and Pacific Railroad – Train Thursday
Texas and Pacific Railroad - Train Thursday. Texas and Pacific Railroad - Uptown, West Bank, Points West! EMD E-8A #2011 leads a Texas and Pacific passenger train out of the Trans-Mississippi Passenger Station, New Orleans. Data on a Texas and Pacific Railway history...
read moreEdward’s Amazon Author Page
You’ll find all of his books for sale here.
Shop Edward’s bookstore
Edward’s books are available at bookstores everywhere, as well as Amazon, Kobo, B&N, and other online booksellers.
For signed copies of Edward’s books, visit his online bookshop:
Recent Comments