8th Ward of New Orleans

The 8th Ward is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is one of the Downtown Wards of New Orleans, with a Creole history.

The 8th Ward is a narrow strip stretching from the Mississippi River on the south to Lake Pontchartrain in the north. East, or "down," is the 9th Ward, the boundary being Franklin Avene, Almonaster Avenue, then People's Avenue, and a line straight north into the Lake at part of the University of New Orleans campus. On the west, or "upper" side, the boundary is Elysian Fields Avenue, the boundary with the 7th Ward of New Orleans.

History

As in most of New Orleans, the area along natural high ground of the riverfront was developed for urban use first; this is now part of Faubourg Marigny. Other than the narrow high ground of Gentilly Ridge, the majority of the area between Claiborne Avenue and the Lake was little developed until improved drainage was initiated at the start of the 20th century (see: Drainage in New Orleans.

In the 19th century, in the area from Gentilly Ridge to the lake, the People's Avenue Canal formerly stretched along the ward's back boundary, with the Lower Line Protection Levee in back of it, marking the city limit of New Orleans. This section of the canal has been filled in, but a raised railroad line built atop the old levee still gives a distinct dividing line from the neighborhoods of the 9th Ward on the other side.

On the upper edge of the Ward, the commercially important New Orleans and Pontchartrain Railway ran for about 100 years, connecting the Riverfront with Milneburg on the Lakefront.

Neighborhoods in the 8th Ward include the Marigny Rectangle, St. Roch, Gentilly Terrace, Milneburg, Seabrook and Lake Oaks.