Feeling the Bounds

Something that is not immediately telling about the Lower Ninth Ward is the division between the Holy Cross and the rest of the Lower Ninth. If you walk, or you drive through the Lower Ninth you won’t initially feel or witness a difference between the two zones. Other than, of course, the slight difference in destructive patterns via Katrina.

The Holy Cross area was distinguished in a few different ways: the name, the history, and the geography. Although mostly indiscernible by sight and experience, there is a slight difference. But research, of what little is actually written about the neighborhood before Katrina, will provide an understanding of the discrepancy. Along with an understanding, it tells you what to look for, and ultimately how the distinction can be felt.

The area dubbed, ‘Holy Cross’ is so because it was home to the Holy Cross University, which shifted to secondary school and became Holy Cross High School. The Catholic Brotherhood of the Holy Cross came to New Orleans from France, and established the oldest and longest lasting convent of teaching. It continues to educate boys as a college preparatory school from grade five to twelve. Unfortunately, the school decided to move their campus after Katrina and is no longer an active part of the community. The area was referred to Holy Cross because of the school. The name did not transcend into the rest of the Lower Ninth because the two areas were settled at such different times. The campus was purchased of a plantation family and the parcel remains the size of the many original plantations.

Because of its close proximity to the river, it was initially settled long before the rest of the Lower Ninth. A difference that Holy Cross holds that the rest of the Lower Ninth does not. The first neighborhood based settling began when the parcels of plantations were subdivided in the mid nineteenth century. People were slow to move to the area, but around World War II people began to settle farther from the river bank. With thanks to sophisticated pumping systems to drain the wetlands, a large portion of the area between St Claude and Claiborne was developed by 1949. By 1965 the area north of Claiborne had been significantly built on. Because of the early settlement of the Holy Cross Area, the second and third waves of development continued to emulate the size and feeling of older portions of New Orleans.

There has hardly been a physical separation between Holy Cross and the rest of the Lower Ninth. But it is the biggest significant distinction. It is certainly nothing new, but it is no less noteworthy today than it was two hundred years ago. It can be experienced today, by standing at the river front with your back facing the river, you can literally feel the ground sloping away from you. Standing on the built up levee gives you a vantage point like no where else in the Lower Ninth.

The significance of the comparative early settling of Holy Cross raises considerable issues affecting the Lower Ninth at its post Katrina status. Because of the significant history of the Lower Ninth, particularly that of the Holy Cross area, with the combination of the massive devastation north of Claiborne, there is a delicate issue of preservation and new construction. Fortunately a good portion of the Lower Ninth between Claiborne and St Claude, as well as most of the area between St Claude and the river, will be able to be preserved. However, the largest portion of the Lower Ninth is currently shattered and cannot be refurbished. This introduces the dialogue of the entire neighborhood of the Lower Ninth.