The cornerstone of the Orleans Parish Criminal Court and the Jail behind it was laid on February 4, 1893 at the corner of Tulane Avenue and Saratoga Street (now Loyola Avenue). Sixty-three years later, on November 30, 1956, a ground breaking ceremony took place at the same spot--for the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. The o ld courthouse had been replaced in 1931 by the new facility at Tulane and Broad and was subsequently used as the city's Municipal Courts, as the First District Police Station, and, in the late thirties, as offices for the WPA and the NYA. The building was finally torn down in 1949, and the space stood vacant until NOPL made the corner its home. (Rumors that the ghosts of prisoners from the old jail still haunt the Library's sub-basement have never been substantiated.) [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Municipal Government Collection]

The Prytania Market stood on the River side of Prytania Street at the corner of Upperline. From its earliest days, the city operated public fish, vegetable, and meat markets situated in neighborhoods throughout town. City ordinances regulated stall rental, the products that could or could not be sold at certain markets or times of the year (before refrigeration, for example, the sale of shrimp, fish, or crabs, was prohibited between May 1 and October 1) and enforced very specific health and sanitary regulations. The advent of supermarkets in the 1950s brought an end to the era of the public market, and today, only the French Market remains under municipal ownership, more a tourist attraction now than a viable market. Some of the old market buildings have survived, however, restored to new uses as offices or shops. The site of the Prytania Market is now home to a small public park. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Municipal Government Collection; Department of Property Management Series]

During the nineteenth century many patients entering Charity Hospital were recent immigrant arrivals to the Crescent City. To help finance the medical services provided to these newcomers the state legislature authorized a tax on ships bringing passengers into the port. This receipt not only recalls the existence of that tax, it also reminds us that Lake Pontchartrain once provided port facilities at several points along its Orleans Parish shore. [Rare Vertical File: Receipts] New Orleans, 31 May 1842 I Wm. Hoffman Steamer J. Dupre -- Port Pontchartrain TO THE CHARITY HOSPITAL, Dr. For Tax on Passengers under the Act of 26th March, 1842, to provide a Fund for the support of the Charity Hospital. From the master of every vessel from a foreign port, For each cabin passenger, . . . . $1.00 For each steerage passenger, . . . . 50 cents. From the master of every coasting vessel arriving by sea from any port in the Gulf of Mexico For each cabin passenger, . . . . . 12 1/2 cents. For each steerage passenger, . . . . . 6 1/4 cents. From every coasting vessel from any port on the Atlantic Ocean For each and every cabin passenger, . . 25 cents. For each and every steerage passenger, . . 6 1/4 cents. From the captain of every steamboat, For each and every cabin passenger, . . . 12 1/2 cents. For every steerage passenger, . . . . 6 1/4 cents. [The J. Dupre carried ten cabin passengers @ 12 1/2 cents for a total of $1.25] Received payment for the CHARITY HOSPITAL, (signed) M. Hougot Deputy Tax Collector

Mayor Victor Schiro, dressed up for his role as head honcho of the "Mayor's Posse," which paraded on horseback in full cowboy regalia at Mardi Gras. Mayor Schiro's successors in office have not perpetuated this rather odd sight of the city's highest public official dressed up like Roy Rogers, but Jefferson Parish's Sheriff Harry Lee has adopted the tradition. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Victor H. Schiro Collection]

Mayor Martin Behrman breaks ground for Behrman Street (now Behrman Avenue) at the West boundary of the U.S. Naval Station in Algiers, 1906. The small town of Algiers, which Behrman called home, burgeoned after the completion of the Mississippi River Bridge and is today home to some 57,000 New Orleanians. Methods of road construction have also changed considerably since Behrman's day! [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Martin Behrman Collection]

One manager of the 1854 masquerade ball represented by this ticket was H.M. Isaacson who later became captain of the Rex organization. Does the fact that they were holding a masquerade ball on a Saturday evening during Lent suggest that the American founders of the "modern Mardi Gras" were thinking about something other than the religious symbolism of the annual celebration? [Rare Vertical File: Tickets] GRAND COMBINATION BALL, Last Masquerade Ball of the Season, At ARMORY HALL, APRIL 1st, 1854 Admit M[iss Brower] Invited by MANAGERS. *T. H. Hutton, *J. Caulfield, Dr. Goodall, *H.L. Daigre, C.W. McMurtrie, *R.B. Clarke, W.K. McIntosh, Dr. T.F. Owen, *Dr. F.E. Montemat, J.B. Chandler, *G.P. Ring, *H.M. Isaacson, *W.E. Deacon, W.J. Deshea, D. Munroe. *Committee of Invitation. Ladies are requested to bring their invitations.

In the New Orleans of 1914, one did not have to leave the city limits in order to enjoy an automobile drive in the country! This was the route to the Mississippi Gulf Coast prior to construction of the Watson-Williams bridge across eastern Lake Pontchartrain in 1928 and of the Chef Menteur and Rigolets bridges a few years later. [Louisiana Postcard Collection: New Orleans Streets]

The Lane Mills on Tchoupitoulas Street just upriver from Napoleon Avenue reminds us of the important role that the cotton industry once played within the city's economic framework. The mills closed in the late 1950s but the section closest to Napoleon remains an integral part of the New Orleans economy. Through an outstanding example of adaptive reuse, the structure now houses a key link in the Schwegmann's supermarket chain. Schwegmann's is the fifth largest private sector employer in the New Orleans area (or at least it was until the business was sold to outside interests recently). [Rare Vertical File: Letterheads--Twentieth Century Business Firms]

New Orleans today is the major Democratic Party stronghold in a state that is becoming increasingly Republican. This ballot from the 1888 election recalls the unsuccessful effort by a former Republican governor to return to the statehouse. The presence of such stalwart Democrats as future congressman Robert C. Davey and General G. T. Beauregard on the Republican ticket does not mean that they were making the same party switch that Billy Tauzin, Buddy Roemer, and Mike Foster made in more recent times. [Rare Vertical File: Ballots] FIRST WARD. REPUBLICAN TICKET. PARISH OF ORLEANS. For Governor, H. C. WARMOTH, of Plaquemines. For Lieutenant Governor, ANDREW HERO, JR., of Orleans. For Secretary of State, JOHN F. PATTY, of St. Mary. For State Treasurer, B. F. FLANDERS, of Lafayette. For Attorney General, ROBERT RAY, of Ouachita. For Auditor of Public Accounts, JAMES FORSYTHE, of Catahoula. For Superintendent of Public Education, JOSEPH A> BREAUX, of Iberia. "For the Tulane University Amendment." "For Amendment to Article 214 of the Constitution for the division of the State into Levee Districts and for the appointment or election of Levee Commissioners and defining their duties and powers." "For Amendment of Article 117 relative to the terms of the District Courts (the parish of Orleans excepted)." For Amendment prohibiting the lease or alienation of the New Basin Canal and Shell Road and appurtenances." For Amendment to Article 62 of the Constitution providing for a lapse in the office of Lieutenant Governor." For Amendment to Article 207 of the Constitution relative to exemption of property from taxation." For Senator 5th Senatorial District, A.S. BADGER For Representative 1st Representative District, GEO. W. BOOTH For District Attorney, CHAS. H. LUZENBERG For Clerk Civil District Court, WILLIAM J. McGEEHAN For Clerk Criminal District Court, DAN. A. ROSE For Civil Sheriff, CHAS. W. DROWN For Criminal Sheriff, GABRIEL VILLERE For Register of Conveyances, A. J. VILLERE For Recorder of Mortgages, GEO. GUINAULT For Coroner, DR. Y. R. LEMONNIER. For Judge First City Court, H. H. PRICE For Judge Second City Court, C. H. LAVILLEBEUVRE For Judge Third City Court, E. J. BERMUDEZ For Judge Fourth City Court, ROBT. H. MARR, JR. For Clerk First City Court, JAMES KIRKPATRICK For Clerk Second City Court, FRED. H. FROST For Clerk Third City Court, CHAS. H. BROWNLEE For Clerk Fourth City Court, M. DeLUCAS For Constable First City Court, M. FARENTELI. For Constable Second City Court, P. Ad. FORTIER For Constable Third City Court, T. J. COURTNEY For Constable Fourth City Court, E. W. WEST MUNICIPAL OFFICERS For Mayor, ROBT. C. DAVEY For Treasurer, JOS. N. HARDY For Comptroller, OTTO THOMAN For Commissioner of Public Works, G. T. BEAUREGARD For Commissioner of Police and Public Buildings, C. TAYLOR GAUCHE For First Recorder, WM. B. MURPHY For Second Recorder, GUY DREUX For Third Recorder, J. ULYSSE LANDRY For Fourth Recorder, J. L. SMITH For Fifth Recorder, R. H. LEA For Councilmen 1st Municipal District, A. K. FINLAY 1st Representative District, GEO. A. TRAUTH

NOPSI inaugurated electric bus service on December 3, 1929, when two of these electric trolley buses began to roll on the "Southport Shuttle Route" from Oak Street to Carrollton Avenue Electric buses continued in use throughout the city into the 1970s, replacing a number of the old neighborhood streetcar lines. Also visible in this photograph is the Mater Dolorosa School, seen at the left of the Church; once filled with grammar school children, the building has been converted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans into apartments for senior citizens. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Municipal Government Collection; Department of Utilities Series]

The trading floor of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, 1924. The Cotton Exchange was established in 1871 by a group of local factors to regulate and standardize the cotton trade in New Orleans. This photograph reminds us that during the 19th century and into the 20th cotton was king in New Orleans, the driving force behind the city's economy. In the mid-1960s, however, trading in cotton futures had declined and new federal regulations governing cotton trading led to the closure of the Exchange. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. New Orleans Cotton Exchange Collection]

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