The West Bank of greater New Orleans: a historical geography

"The West Bank has been a vital part of greater New Orleans since the city's inception.

It has been the Kansas, the Birmingham, the Norfolk, Atlanta, Pullman, and Fort Worth of the metropolis that is, its breadbasket, foundry, shipbuilder, railroad terminal, train manufacturer, and livestock hub.

It had been the Gulf South's St. Louis, in that it had a diversified industrial sector as well as a riverfront, mercantilist, and agricultural economy.

It served as a jumping off point to the Western frontier, and a Cannery Row for the estuarine abundance to the south.

The West Bank has also been the Queens and Oakland of New Orleans an affordable, if rather plain, border district, proud but not pretentious, pleasant if not prominent, comfortable with its place even though at time anxious about the grandiloquence of its cross river counterpart.

The West Bank is home to some of the most diverse demographics in the region, including many immigran