Pontchartrain Park is a historically registered

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 ...

of the city of

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 ...

. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Leon C. Simon Drive to the north, the

Industrial Canal The Industrial Canal is a waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway's proper name, as used by the U.S. Army United States Army Corps of Engineers, Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation ...

to the east, Dreux Avenue to the south and Peoples Avenue to the west.

Geography

Pontchartrain Park is located at and has an elevation of . 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 . of which is land and (7.0%) of which is water. Pontchartrain Park includes a senior center, a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy Major League Baseball Youth Academies are a series of academies in American cities and one in Puerto Rico that provides free year-round instruction in baseball and softball to the areas' youth. The academies are run as not-for-profit organizations ...

located at

Wesley Barrow Stadium Wesley Barrow Stadium is a 650-seat baseball and softball stadium located in the Pontchartrain Park section of New Orleans, Louisiana. Named in memory of Negro league baseball manager Wesley Barrow, a longtime prominent figure in the New Orleans ...

. Adjacent to the Pontchartrain Park golf course is the campus of

Southern University at New Orleans Southern University at New Orleans (also known as SUNO) is a public historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the Southern University System and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Southern Univer ...

Adjacent Neighborhoods

* Gentilly Woods (south) * Lake Terrace/Lake Oaks (north) *

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 now ...

(west) * Pines Village (east)

Boundaries

The City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of Pontchartrain Park as these streets: Leon C. Simon Drive, the Industrial Canal, Dreux Avenue and Peoples Avenue.

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 2,630 people, 1,009 households, and 736 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 2,828 /mi² (1,096 /km²). As of the

of 2010, there were 1,482 people, 551 households, and 385 families residing in the neighborhood.

History

Pontchartrain Park was developed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was one of the first suburban-style

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

s developed by and for

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s during the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

era of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. It has been home to such prominent New Orleanians as mayors

Dutch Morial Ernest Nathan "Dutch" Morial (October 9, 1929 – December 24, 1989) was an American politician and a leading civil rights advocate. He was the first black mayor of New Orleans, serving from 1978 to 1986. He was the father of Marc Morial, who serv ...

and

Marc Morial Marc Haydel Morial (born January 3, 1958) is an American political and civic leader and the current president of the National Urban League. Morial served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002 as the city's youngest Mayor, President of th ...

, political activist Philip M. Baptiste and district attorney

Eddie Jordan Edmund Patrick Jordan (30 March 1948 – 20 March 2025) was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From to , Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Born in Dublin, Jordan in ...

; as well as nationally known figures such as

Lisa P. Jackson Lisa Perez Jackson (born February 8, 1962) is an American chemical engineer who served as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2009 to 2013. She wa ...

, EPA Administrator under President Barack Obama, actor

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1962) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor of stage and screen. He first Breakthrough role, gained recognition portraying ...

, and jazz musician Terrence Blanchard. In the 1970s, urban renewal projects were undertaken with funding from the federal New Town Program. Pontchartrain Park flooded badly in the aftermath of

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. ...

in 2005, taking on water first from the overtopping of a section of floodwall of the Industrial Canal caused by storm surge channeled into the city from the MRGO Canal, then from major breaches sustained by floodwalls 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 dra ...

. In July 2020, th
Pontchartrain Park Historic District was announced
as the neighborhood was added to the U.S. National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. A commemorative marker was unveiled on June 30, 2022.

Notable residents

* Terrence Blanchard *

Darryl Willis Darryl Keith Willis (born c. 1969) is an American geologist and publicist, currently working as Corporate Vice President Energy Industry at Microsoft. He previously worked as Vice President of Oil, Gas and Energy for Google and as President and ...

Gustave Blache III Gustave Blache III ( ; born 1977) is an American figurative artist from New Orleans, Louisiana, currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his works in series that highlight the process and unique labors of everyday society. ...

References

External links

NPR story: Return to Pontchartrain Park
{{New Orleans District 6 Neighborhoods in New Orleans