Gentilly is a broad, predominantly middle-class and racially diverse section of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. The Gentilly neighborhood is bounded by

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

to the north, France Road to the east, Bayou St. John to the west, and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

railroad tracks to the south. The major north-south streets are Franklin Avenue, Elysian Fields Avenue, St. Anthony, St. Bernard, St. Roch, Paris, Wisner, A.P. Tureaud (formerly London) Avenue and Press. The east-west streets are Lakeshore Drive, Leon C. Simon, Allen Toussaint Blvd (a section of which was formerly called Hibernia), Prentiss, Harrison, Filmore, Mirabeau, Hayne, Chef Menteur, and Gentilly.

History

The first part of Gentilly to be developed was along the Gentilly Ridge, a long stretch of high ground along the former banks of

Bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. The ...

Gentilly. A road, originally "Gentilly Road", was built on the ridge, and formed the eastern path into the oldest part of the city, today's

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...

to Chef Menteur Pass. The high ground became Gentilly Boulevard and U.S. Highway 90, part of the Old Spanish Trail from

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. Settlement was originally mostly confined to along the long narrow ridge, plus

Milneburg Milneburg was a town on the southern shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana that was absorbed into the city of New Orleans. A neighborhood to the south of this area is still sometimes known by this name; the former location of Milneburg is no ...

, built on elevated piers on the shore of

. Most of the ground between the ridge and the lake was swampy. The first residential section adjacent to the ridge, Gentilly Terrace, dating to the early 20th century, was built by excavating and piling up the earth in the shallow swamp to create blocks of terraced land where houses could be built. With the development of improved drainage pumps (see drainage in New Orleans), land reclamation and higher lakefront levees, the land extending from the ridge to the lake was developed by the mid-20th century, and the entire area popularly came to be known as Gentilly. Gentilly has traditionally been defined variously. Some definitions include a somewhat wider area, extending the neighborhood into the Upper 9th Ward. Some older New Orleanians extend the definition even further, to include the section of old Gentilly on the east side of the Industrial Canal, now part of Eastern New Orleans. Other definitions diminish the area occupied by Gentilly by placing the western boundary of Gentilly along the

London Avenue Canal The London Avenue Canal is a drainage canal in New Orleans, Louisiana, used for pumping rain water into Lake Pontchartrain. The canal runs through the 7th Ward of New Orleans from the Gentilly area to the Lakefront. It is one of the three main drain ...

, not Bayou St. John, and the northern boundary along Leon C. Simon Drive, not the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. By this reckoning, Mirabeau Gardens, Vista Park and Oak Park, lying between the London Avenue Canal and Bayou St. John, fall outside of Gentilly, as do the Lakefront subdivisions of Lake Terrace and Lake Oaks, and the Lakefront campus of the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High resea ...

which doesn’t necessarily imply that these areas are disregarded as a “part” of gentilly.

Hurricane Katrina

Apart from the natural high ground along the Gentilly Ridge and the Lakefront section, itself raised above sea level on man-made land created by a project of the Orleans Levee Board in the early 20th century, Gentilly was badly damaged following Hurricane Katrina. The

floodwalls were breached in two places by Katrina's storm surge, flooding most of the area. Gentilly's population has slowly returned, with most homes requiring major gutting and repair work before they could be reoccupied. As of the start of 2007, the area is moderately populated with something less than half of its pre-Katrina residents and businesses having returned. Archdiocese of New Orleans decided to close Redeemer-Seton High School while building a new campus for Holy Cross High School on Paris Avenue, on the former sites of St. Francis Cabrini Church and School and Redeemer-Seton. Marian Central Catholic Middle School, formerly St. Raphael School, has been demolished, and the parishes of St. Raphael and St. Frances Cabrini have been merged to form Transfiguration parish, currently (as of February 2010) holding services on the campus of the University of New Orleans as well as in the former St. Raphael's church building which has since been restored.

2007 tornado

On February 13, 2007, an EF2 tornado struck the Pontchartrain Park neighborhood in the town, many FEMA trailer created after the storm were heavily damaged or destroyed, including one where an elderly woman was killed. Other structures, homes, trees, and power poles and lines were damaged and 10 other people were injured.

Bus service

Bus service from the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA): *51-St. Bernard via Lake Vista, which runs from Canal to St. Bernard before going down Paris to Lake Pontchartrain. *52-St. Bernard via Canal St.; Paris Ave.; UNO, which runs from Canal St, to Claiborne, to St. Bernard turned on Paris to Mirabeau to St. Anthony and ended in front of Ben Franklin High, now it travels onto the campus of the

. *55- Elysian Fields which runs from

, Elysian Fields at Gentilly (Nearside, Elysian Fields at Galvez, St Claude at Elysian Fields, Canal at Tchoupitoulas. *57-Franklin Avenue bus, Southern University at New Orleans (Park 2), Southern University (Lake Campus), Franklin at UNO Arena, Franklin at Gentilly, Franklin at Galvez, St Claude at Elysian Fields (Nearside, S. Rampart at Canal) *94- Broad St. from Broad & Washington; travels up Broad Street to Gentilly Boulevard (US-90), and continues on 90 eastbound before turning right onto Michoud Boulevard, turns onto Old Gentilly Rd, travels westbound on Chef Menteur Highway (US-90), makes a turn northbound on Michoud Boulevard, takes a right onto Dwyer Boulevard heading eastbound, and finally makes a turn on Alcee Fortier Boulevard before turning back onto US-90 westbound.

Cityscape

Gentilly is bounded by

to the north, Interstate 610 to the south, City Park to the west, and the Industrial Canal to the east.Gentilly
" Rebuilding Together New Orleans.

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods in the area include: *Dillard *Filmore *Milneburg *Mirabeau Gardens: Mirabeau Ave. to Filmore Ave. and The London Ave. Canal to Paris Ave. *Oak Park: St. Bernard Ave to Paris Ave, Mirabeau Ave to Robert E Lee Blvd. *Vista Park: Paris Ave to London Avenue Canal, Filmore to Robert E Lee Blvd. *Edgewood: Gentilly to L&N (Now CSX) tracks, Elysian Fields to Peoples Avenue *

Gentilly Terrace Gentilly Terrace is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Filmore Avenue to the north, People's Avenue to the east, Dahlia Walk and ...

: Gentilly to Dreux, Elysian Fields to Peoples Avenue *Gentilly Heights: London Avenue Canal to Elysian Fields, Norman Meyer to Filmore * Gentilly Woods, New Orleans/Pontchartrain Park: Leon C Simon/Haynes to Chef Menteur, Peoples to France Road/Industrial Canal * ake Oaks, New Orleans From Leon C Simon to the Lake, Elysian Fields to Franklin Ave. *

Lake Terrace, New Orleans Lake Terrace/Lake Oaks is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. A sub-district of the city's Gentilly District, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Lake Pontchartrain to the north; the Industrial Canal ...

: From Robert E Lee to the Lake, Bayou St. John to London Avenue Canal *

St. Anthony, New Orleans St. Anthony is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: New York Street to the north, Elysian Fields Avenue to the east, Mirabeau Avenue ...

Government and infrastructure

The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

operates its New Orleans Field Office in Gentilly.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Three universities, the

, Southern University at New Orleans, and

Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of ...

are located in Gentilly. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's main campus is also located in Gentilly.

New Orleans Public Schools The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans. The OPSB directly administers 6 schools and has granted charte ...

operates district schools, while Recovery School District oversees charter schools. Public district and charter schools in Gentilly: * Benjamin Franklin Senior High School ( Lake Terrace/Lake Oaks) *

Lake Area New Tech Early College High School Lake Area New Tech Early College High School was a former high school in Gentilly, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The New Beginnings Schools Foundation ran the school.Chang, Cindy.Parents and students at Greater Gentilly High School spea ...

*Gentilly Terrace Charter School (

) *Arthur Ashe Firstline School Private schools in Gentilly: *

Brother Martin High School Brother Martin High School is a private, Catholic, all-male college preparatory school run by the United States Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was established by the brothers in 1869 as St. Aloysiu ...

* Holy Cross School

Public libraries

The Norman Mayer Branch of the New Orleans Public Library is in Gentilly. It was damaged in Hurricane Katrina. The library, in a new $5.7 million facility, reopened on March 20, 2012. The , two-story facility had 26 computers and about 40,000 volumes of books as of 2012. It had a price tag of $5.7 million. The post-Katrina temporary library, located in a strip center, had 19 computers. The

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exe ...

(FEMA) was to pay for the costs of demolition of the previous library and construction of the new library since the previous facility had been, according to FEMA's estimation, over 50% damaged by Katrina. The features and amenities present in the new facility that were not in the previous facility were financed by other sources, including New Orleans municipal bond sales and funds from the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The "design-build" process, one specially allowed only in parishes affected by Hurricane Katrina under Louisiana law, was used to rebuild this library and four others. Lee Ledbetter & Associates of New Orleans served as the architectural firm, and Gibbs Construction served as the construction company. - See inset image showing the pictures of the libraries that lists the costs and square footage Lee Ledbetter & Associates worked with Kansas City, Missouri firm Gould Evans & Associates to design this library and four others. Lee Ledbetter of Lee Ledbetter & Associates stated that the libraries his company designed were made to have better access to public transportation and have reduced utility usage, including having electricity and water-saving features, in order to be more cost effective.

In popular culture

Binx Bolling, the protagonist of Walker Percy's

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The N ...

–winning 1961 novel '' The Moviegoer'', lives in Gentilly.

References

* Carl, Jim. ''Freedom of Choice: Vouchers in American Education''. ABC-CLIO, September 30, 2011. , 9780313393273.

Notes

External links

*
Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood
nbsp;– Greater New Orleans Community Data Center
Gentilly Neighborhood Mapping
nbsp;– Post-Katrina Community Restoration Mapping (

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and

) {{coord, 30.0144, -90.0605, display=title Neighborhoods in New Orleans