<GNOCDC> Tall Timbers/ Brechtel Neighborhood Snapshot

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish Algiers District Tall Timbers/ Brechtel Snapshot

This information is pre-Katrina.
Although the information on this page is out-of-date, we are continuing to make it available, as it provides insight about this neighborhood pre-Katrina.

Post-Katrina, we will not be making any changes or updates to this page. As a result, you may find outdated information and broken links.

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Tall Timbers/ Brechtel Neighborhood Snapshot

Census 2000 Data Tables: People & Household Characteristics, Housing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Neighborhood Characteristics

The Tall Timbers/Brechtel neighborhood is largely composed of two subdivisions, making up a mixed-income neighborhood with the look of suburbia (Census 2000).

From agricultural plantations to a residential neighborhood

Agriculture played an important role in the Algiers district's economy, with sugar plantations abounding. Neighborhoods slowly developed as more amenities encouraged small population growth in the late 19th century. The Wood Pump, a more efficient drainage system invented by engineer Baldwin Wood, made it possible to remove large amounts of debris-laden water a short vertical distance. The Southern Pacific Railroad yard not only transported people and materials but also was a source of income for residents working there.

However, construction of the Mississippi River Bridge in the late 1950s became the catalyst for extensive neighborhood development. Easy access between the East and West banks coupled with affordable housing brought hundreds of families into this newly developed area.

	Image courtesy New Orleans Public Library (nutrias.org). Permission for reuse required.
	"The site of Brechtel Memorial Park during the time that the land was being cleared for recreational use. Photograph by Jerry Bray, January, 1960." [Municipal Government Photograph Collection,Parkway and Park Commission Series]

Brechtel

Brechtel encompasses Brechtel Park and Golf Course and Lakewood Country Club. Brechtel Park, constructed in 1960, consists of wooded area, cleared land and a public golf course. Lakewood Country Club is a private country club on General DeGaulle Drive and shares the eastern boundary of Brechtel Park.

Community in action

The Algiers Economic Development Foundation, the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkway and community leaders joined together to develop a plan for major improvements to the Brechtel Memorial Park. Some of the proposed face-lifting include the removal of dead or dying trees due to termite infestation and planting of new timbers in cleared areas. In March 2002, representatives of the collaboration presented the plan at a public meeting in the hopes that the community embraces the project.


	© GNO Community Data Center
	Entrance to Tall Timbers

Tall Timbers

The Tall Timbers neighborhood, situated to the east of Brechtel, stretching to the Intracoastal Waterway, enjoys a beautiful levee at its eastern border. Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School educates the area's younger population. The Tall Timbers Extension Association and the Tall Timbers Homeowners Association are two organizations dedicated to the improvement of this neighborhood.

For more information:

1999 Land Use Plan New Orleans City Planning Commission
www.new-orleans.la.us/cnoweb/cpc/1999_dist_twelve.htm

Wilkinson, Aaron. Brechtel May Get Facelift Master Plan to be Presented at Library, Times Picayune, 03/03/02
www.nolalive.com/picayunes/t-p/wbpicayunes/index.ssf?/picayunesstory/wc_trees03.html

Algiers: The Right Bank Part VII
nutrias.org/exhibits/algiers/algiers7.htm

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish Algiers District Tall Timbers/ Brechtel Snapshot

Last modified: October 8, 2002