Eastern New Orleans
New Orleans East is the eastern section of New Orleans, the newest section of the city. It is bounded by the Industrial Canal, the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Pontchartrain. Developed extensively from the 1950s onward, its numerous residenti ...
, part of the
Ninth Ward
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. On the south, the Ninth Ward is bound ...
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, located at latitude 30.03°N, longitude −89.925°W.
Demographics
History
In the 19th century, Michoud was a small rural village in
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas.
The waterwa ...
some industrial development of the area began, growing with military plants during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, most importantly
Higgins Industries
Higgins Industries was the company owned by Andrew Higgins based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Higgins Industries is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP (landi ...
factories. A small military airfield was built in the 1940s and 1950s. During that time, architect Andrew J. Higgins was contracted by the U.S. Government to construct a new aircraft manufacturing facility adjacent to the airfield, at a cost of $180 million ($2.8 billion in 2018).
By the 1960s, the Michoud airfield runway was mostly removed (with portions rebuilt as Saturn Boulevard with only a small section of runway visible at southwest end), except the manufacturing buildings. NASA acquired the factory for the moon program; it is now known as the
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
Michoud Assembly Facility
The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is an manufacturing complex owned by NASA in New Orleans East, a district within New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. Organizationally it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and is current ...
complex.
This area has the distinction of being the fastest-sinking part of Louisiana and one of the fastest-sinking areas of the Gulf Region. It is also among the lowest areas in the city in terms of elevation.
TACA Flight 110
TACA Flight 110 was an international scheduled airline flight operated by TACA International, traveling from Belize City to New Orleans. On May 24, 1988, the flight encountered severe thunderstorm activity on its final approach to its destinat ...