Tremé ( ) is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, the Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Tremé / Lafitte when including the
Lafitte Projects.
Founded in the 1810s, it is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and was initially the main neighborhood of its
free people of color
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...
. Historically a racially mixed neighborhood, it remains an important center of the city's
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
and
Créole culture, especially the modern
brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...
tradition. Some sources go so far as to call it the oldest
black-majority neighborhood in the U.S.
The Faubourg Tremé was created from land owned by Claude Tremé in 1810. A subdistrict of the
Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the New Orleans City Planning Commission are
Esplanade Avenue to the east,
North Rampart Street to the south, St. Louis Street to the west and North Broad Street to the north.
History

The Tremé neighborhood began as the Morand Plantation and two forts—St. Ferdinand and St. John. Near the end of the 18th century, Claude Tremé purchased the land from the original plantation owner. By 1794 the
Carondelet Canal was built from the French Quarter to
Bayou St. John, splitting the land. Developers began building subdivisions throughout the area to house a diverse population that included Caucasians and free persons of color.
Tremé abuts the north, or lake, side of the
French Quarter, away from the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
—"back of town" as earlier generations of New Orleanians used to say. Its traditional borders were
Rampart Street on the south, Canal Street on the west,
Esplanade Avenue on the east, and Broad Street on the north.
Claiborne Avenue is a primary thoroughfare through the neighborhood. At the end of the 19th century, the
Storyville red-light district was carved out of the upper part of Tremé; in the 1940s this was torn down and made into a
public housing
Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
project. This area is no longer considered part of the neighborhood. The "town square" of Tremé was
Congo Square—originally known as "Place des Nègres"—where
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
s gathered on Sundays to dance. This tradition flourished until the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
took control, and officials grew more anxious about unsupervised gatherings of slaves in the years before the Civil War.

The square was also an important place of business for slaves, enabling some to purchase their freedom from selling crafts and goods there. For much of the rest of the 19th century, the square was an open-air
market. "
Creoles of color" brass and symphonic bands gave concerts, providing the foundation for a more improvisational style that would come to be known as "
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
". At the end of the 19th century, the city officially renamed the square "Beauregard Square" after the French Créole Confederate General
P.G.T. Beauregard, but the neighborhood people seldom used that name. In 2011, the city restored the traditional name of "Congo Square".
In the early 1960s, in an
urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
project later considered a mistake by most analysts, a large portion of central Tremé was torn down. The land stood vacant for some time, then in the 1970s the city created
Louis Armstrong Park in the area and named Congo Square within Armstrong Park. In 1994, the
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park was established here.
Musicians from Tremé include
Doreen Ketchens,
Alphonse Picou
Alphonse Floristan Picou (October 19, 1878 – February 4, 1961) was an important very early American jazz clarinetist, who also wrote and arranged music. He was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Early life and education
Alphonse Picou w ...
,
Kermit Ruffins,
Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews,
Lucien Barbarin, and "The King of Treme"
Shannon Powell. Additionally, comedian
Mark Normand grew up in the neighborhood. While predominantly African-American, the population has been mixed from the 19th century through to the 21st. Jazz musicians of
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an ancestry such as
Henry Ragas
Henry Walter Ragas (November 2, 1890 – February 18, 1919) was a jazz pianist who was a member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the first jazz band to record commercially.
Background
He played piano with the Original Dixieland Jass Ba ...
and
Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he ...
also lived in Tremé. Also, Joe's Cozy Corner in Tremé is often considered the birthplace of
Rebirth Brass Band, one of the most notable current New Orleans bands.
Alex Chilton
William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950March 17, 2010) was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock bands the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for the Box Tops ...
, who led the rock groups
Big Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...
and
The Box Tops, lived in Tremé from the early 1990s until his death in 2010.
During
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
, the Tremé neighborhood suffered minor to moderate flooding. In the portion of the neighborhood in from I-10, the water was generally not high enough to damage many of the old raised homes. The neighborhood demographics have changed in recent years due to gentrification and the proliferation of short-term rentals such as
Airbnb
Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...
.
African-American heritage sites

Located in Tremé, the
New Orleans African American Museum
The New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM) is a museum in New Orleans, Louisiana's visiting Tremé neighborhood, the oldest-surviving Black people, black community in the United States. The NOAAM of Art, Culture and History seeks to educate ...
is dedicated to protecting, preserving, and promoting through education the history, art, and communities of African Americans in New Orleans and the
African diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...
. It is listed on the
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail, as is the community's
St. Augustine Church — the oldest African-American
Catholic parish in the U.S..
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the district has a total area of , all of which is land.
Adjacent neighborhoods
*
Bayou St. John (west)
*
French Quarter (east)
*
Iberville Projects (south)
*
Seventh Ward (north)
*
Tulane/Gravier (south)
Boundaries
The New Orleans City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of Tremé as these streets: Esplanade Avenue, North Rampart Street, St. Louis Street, North Broad Street.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 8,853 people, 3,429 households, and 2,064 families residing in the neighborhood.
The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 12,830 /mi
2 (4,918 /km
2).
As of the census of 2010, there were 4,155 people residing in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood was 92.4% Black or African American, 4.9% White, 1.5% Hispanic, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% Two or More Races, and 0.6% Other.
As of the census of 2020, there were 4,590 people residing in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is 56.3% Black or African American, 35.6% White, 5.1% Hispanic, 0.4% Asian, 2.6% Two or More Races, and 0.2% Other.
Education
*
New Orleans Public Schools and various charter schools serve the community.
*
Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School is located in Tremé.
[Wyckoff, Geraldine.]
Next up: The Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival!
Archive
'' Louisiana Weekly''. December 5, 2011. Retrieved on March 17, 2013.
*The
McDonogh 35 High School is in the Tremé area. There were plans to move the school to the Phillips/Waters school site by 2013.
The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans operates Catholic schools. St.
Peter Claver School was in Tremé. It was established in 1921, and closed in 2019. In its final year it had 147 students, while the archdiocese's expected enrollment was 200. At the time its budget shortfall was $83,000. Its tuition usually ranged from $5,400 to $5,900 during the 2017-2018 school year.
In popular culture
Films
*''Shake the Devil Off'' (2007), a documentary co-written by Swiss-based director
Peter Entell with Lydia Breen, that explores the post-Katrina lives of parishioners at St. Augustine Church in the Tremé (the oldest predominantly black Catholic parish in the nation).
Father Jerome LeDoux (St. Augustine's priest 1990-2005) was a central character in the film. In 2006, he was recognized by the City of New Orleans for his work fostering greater appreciation of the Tremé's black history and culture.
*''
Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans'' (2008), a documentary film by Dawn Logsdon and
Lolis Eric Elie, former ''Times Picayune'' columnist and later HBO ''
Tremé'' staff writer, which bridges the pre- and post-Katrina stories of Tremé (America’s oldest surviving black community and neighborhood) and features a cast of local musicians, artists and writers
*''
Tradition is a Temple'' (2011), popular contemporary musicians from the Tremé, like "The King of Tremé"
Shannon Powell,
Lucien Barbarin, and the
Treme Brass Band, are featured heavily in this non-fiction film by Darren Hoffman
Music
*Jazz singer
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...
recorded her album ''
Dee Dee's Feathers'' (2015) in Esplanade Studios in Tremé, to commemorate 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Television
* ''
Treme'', an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
drama series created in 2010 by
David Simon (creator of ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
'') and
Eric Overmeyer, is set in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and centers on the lives of residents of the Tremé area.
Gallery
File:StClaudeDumainPoincy.jpg, Corner of St. Claude & Dumaine Streets, 1895
File:AugustineTreme14Jan2008AboveB.jpg, St. Augustine Church
File:ClubFabulousClaiborne16Sept08.jpg, "Club Fabulous" bar
File:TremeNOLASmoothJaz.JPG, Tremé Brass band playing in the Candlelight Lounge
File:MeilleurGoldthwaiteHouseFrontB.jpg, New Orleans African American Museum
The New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM) is a museum in New Orleans, Louisiana's visiting Tremé neighborhood, the oldest-surviving Black people, black community in the United States. The NOAAM of Art, Culture and History seeks to educate ...
File:Mural under the Claiborne bridge.jpg, alt=
File:The Carver Theatre.jpg, alt=
See also
*
Lafitte Projects
*
Neighborhoods in New Orleans
The city planning commission for New Orleans divided the city into 13 planning districts and 73 distinct neighborhoods in 1980. Although initially in the study 68 neighborhoods were designated, and later increased by the City Planning Commission ...
References
External links
Downtown Neighborhoods Improvement Association at dnianola.orgNeighborhood Associations Representing Treme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treme
Downtown New Orleans
Neighborhoods in New Orleans