Lost Milwaukee

The previous post mentioned Richard Koch's collection of glass plate negatives, and the Southeastern Architectural Archive's current efforts to digitize them. Many of the plates document the 1915 hurricane and its effects on Orleans Parish. Some images record Mardi Gras festivities, masks and costumes in Storyville and other neighborhoods (circa 1902-1906). One photograph is a bird's eye view of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (circa 1905, shown above).

We gleaned the identification from the enormous advertising signage on the building in the lower left corner.  It reads:  "Jacobi & Richter Foreign Produce and Fancy Groceries." The business enterprise specialized in imported meats and cheeses, and was located at 510 and 512 Market Street, near the city's Cathedral Square. The Milwaukee Public Library has digitized a more recent image of the store here (circa 1920s).

Image above:  Unidentified photographer. Bird's Eye View of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Circa 1905. Richard Koch Papers and Photographs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Building Effigies

In  May 1957, the City of New Orleans celebrated a 22-block parade in honor of Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison's building initiatives. At the time of the event, City Hall and the Saratoga building had been completed, the Public Library was under construction, and the old Knights of Pythias temple was being re-sheathed with modernist colored panels.

The parade initiated at Municipal Auditorium and included more than 2000 civic and international participants. Floats adorned with building effigies featured prominently: the Mississippi River Bridge; the Union Passenger Terminal building; City Hall; and oil industry derricks were transported along the designated route through the former Storyville. Some fifteen marching bands punctuated the progress floats. The event culminated with the mayor's dedication and opening of the new City Hall.

New Orleans architect Arthur Q. Davis (1920-2011) served on the City Hall dedication committee, along with preservation leaders Clay Shaw and General L. Kemper Williams.  Betty Finnin directed the creation of the parade floats.

Read more in: "History Making Day Monday." The Times-Picayune New Orleans States (5 May 1957): Section 7, p. 7.

Image above: Leon Trice, photographer for Public Relations Office City Hall, New Orleans. Bird’s Eye View photograph of “Parade of Progress” celebrating Mayor DeLesseps Morrison’s building initiatives, dedication of new City Hall. 6 May 1957. Visual Materials Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Sanborn's FB

For those of you who frequently use Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases, you know that the map keys changed a lot over the years.

We were recently fact-checking the location of a historic photograph and came across this former Fourth Ward public school building (304-310 N. Robertson) that had become the Hotel New World by 1909. "F.B" refers to the gendered space, Female Boarding or Bordello. When the school building was altered to serve the Red Light District, a cluster of cribs was erected along the Bienville Street side.

Image above: Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of New Orleans. New York: 1909. Vol. 2. Detail, as viewed via Digital Sanborn Maps.

For more information on the Hotel New World, see Alecia P. Long, "Sex and Tourism in New Orleans." Chap. in Richard D. Starnes, Southern Journeys. Tuscaloosa and London, 2003, pp. 26-27.