100 Years Ago

100 years ago today, New Orleans was hammered by high winds , tides and copious rainfall. The storm hit the Crescent City the evening of September 28th. By the next morning winds had increased to 40 mph and by the early evening , there were reports of sustained wind velocities at 80 mph and gusts of 120-130 mph. The minimum barometer reading registered at 28.11 inches.

The Southeastern Architectural Archive has been in the process of digitizing a number of glass plate negatives that document the hurricane's aftermath. The images are most likely the work of photographer John Norris Teunisson (1869-1959).  The plates were once acquired by New Orleans architect Richard Koch. Stored in large wooden boxes, some were broken, all were in deteriorated condition.

Zachary Wubben, a Tulane undergraduate working on the project, is currently developing metadata for the images, as most were unidentified or partially identified.  The SEAA plans to launch a new digital collection featuring the images in the near future.

If you want to read more about the hurricane from a contemporary source, consult Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans General Superintendent George G. Earl's October 14 1915 report here, made available by the University of Chicago.

Images above:  John N. Teunisson, attributed. 1915 Hurricane, New Orleans, LA.  1915. Digital surrogates from glass negatives created 2015. Richard Koch Photographs and Papers, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

At Large in the Library: Reinhardt Maitre

The Garden Library of the New Orleans Town Gardeners recently received a gift of Reinhardt Maitre's Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Holland or Dutch Bulbs, Tuberous and Perennial Plants, Green-house Hot-house and Bedding Plants. . . (1875). Printed in Philadelphia, the work is known in two extant copies, one at Tulane University and the other at the Kentucky Historical Society Library.

Maitre was a German-born seedsman who immigrated to New Orleans in 1853. He began his career as a vegetable farmer, selling his cauliflower, celery and “ruta bagas” at the Magazine Market. By 1875 his business was so lucrative that he owned a Magazine Street seed store,(*) and operated expansive nurseries and greenhouses along Magazine Street beyond Louisiana.

He encouraged the public to visit:

“The Magazine, or St. Charles and Jackson Street Cars, leaving their depots on Canal between Camp and St. Charles Street, every three minutes will bring STRANGERS and VISITORS from the lower parts of the city, after a most pleasant ride, to the Store, and affording the same convenience to return – both lines having double tracks just before and near the Store. The Nurseries and Greenhouses are only three squares above the Magazine Car Station on Toledano Street, from whence a five minutes’ walk, on a most spacious side-walk brings Visitors to No. 976 Magazine Street.”


(*) 631 Magazine Street in 1875 (lakeside corner of Magazine at Jackson).

Images above:  Title Page. R. MAITRE’S Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Holland or Dutch Bulbs, Tuberous and Perennial Plants, Green-House Hot-House and Bedding Plants, Ornamental and Evergreen Trees, Flowering Shrubbery, Camellias and Roses….  Philadelphia: Spangler & Davis, 1875. Garden Library of the New Orleans Town Gardeners, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Sanborn Insurance Company. Insurance Map of New Orleans, Louisiana, Vol. 1. New York: 1876. Sheet 4. Fire Insurance Atlases, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Street Cars & Population Growth

One hundred years ago, The Daily Picayune featured a long story about New Orleans population growth associated with street car expansion. The New Orleans Railway and Light Company had historically been reluctant to invest new tracks in areas with few inhabitants, but new management adopted a "build it and they will come" perspective. The Carrollton Avenue and Gentilly Terrace neighborhoods were highlighted as positive examples:

"Perhaps the most striking effects a street car line can have on the distribution of population is shown in the extension of the Villere line by the Edgewood Addition and Gentilly Terrace. This line was only prolonged to take in these spots in 1910, yet within the short period intervening between then and now there has been built up the first true suburb to the city, excluding the Lakeview property."(1)

Early twentieth-century streetcar expansions included the development of the Louisiana Avenue  and Audubon Boulevard lines. Since property values along the Carrollton Avenue and Clio Street lines had significantly increased, investors flocked to purchase lots along the proposed new corridors.(2) The Louisiana Avenue line was viewed as especially promising for real estate development, since the route offered a direct link between mercantile Canal Street and Harvey Canal industries.

Image above: Unidentified photographer. New Orleans Railway & Light Company Streetcars. 14 July 1913. Miscellaneous Photographs Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

(1)R.P. Porter. "Street Cars and the Movement of Population in New Orleans." The Daily Picayune (26 October 1913): p. 33.

(2)See, for example certain records in the Martin Shepard Office Records & Guy Seghers Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

900 Block Camp Street

We recently came across a series of Camp Street parade photographs from the early twentieth century. They depict streetcars, horse carts, military groups, spectators, bands, residences and stores along the 900 block of Camp Street, directly across from Confederate Memorial Hall. Since the flags are at half staff, we assume a funerary parade, and the commemorative procession for President McKinley seems possible.

The structures located at 900-918 Camp Street -- occupied by Nicholas Radetich's oyster bar and saloon and Lambert Brothers gas fitters, plumbers and electricians -- were demolished prior to the 1906 construction of the Fairbanks Company building (Stone Brothers, architects).

Images above:  Camp Street, circa 1901. Miscellaneous Photographs Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.