Hard Times 1929

As I have been processing surveyors' records associated with the development of Kenner, Louisiana, I came across a blueprint copy of S.P. Lafaye's 1925 map of the Pailet Subdivision.  The plat conveys the projected street and lot divisions, six canals, and the names of various tract owners.

But it was the verso that attracted my attention, a handwritten note dated less than a week after "Black Tuesday," 29 October 1929.  The inscription reads, "Philip Johnson/Jackson St. & High Way Kenner/Will work 10 acres across canal/where Ames Williams shack/burned down free 1st year/after that $7.00 per acre a year."

Images above from S.P. Lafaye, draftsman.  Projected Plan of Pailet-Subdivision-Pailet/In Rear of The City of Kenner, LA.  New Orleans, La:  15 May 1925.  Guy Seghers Office Records, "City of Kenner, Jefferson Parish (East), Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.