Algiers (Louisiana)
Algiers is a district of New Orleans that is directly across from Old Town on the other side of the river, the west bank of the Mississippi .
Algiers has been the 15th Ward (of a total of 17) of New Orleans since 1870 and is connected to the center by a bridge (Crescent City Connection, built in 1958) and ferries. The first ferry ran from Algiers to the French Quarter in 1827 .
There is an old town with houses dating back to the 19th century (Algiers Point across the river from the French Quarter) that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978 .
The origin of the name should probably be reminiscent of Algiers , which as a former French provincial town was separated from France by water as well as the former French New Orleans and Algiers. This is where African slaves were kept in quarantine until they were sold in New Orleans, and in the mid-18th century the Cajuns , French-speaking Canadians who were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British , lived here . As a city, Algiers did not develop until around 1800. There were plantations and shipbuilding there, and an important train station from the 1850s. In 1840 they were given city status. Most of the old houses were destroyed in a fire in 1895. From 1901 the US Navy had a base there and from 1966 to 2009 Algiers was one of the two headquarters of the Naval Support Activity New Orleans , the largest military complex in the New Orleans area. During Hurricane Katrina, Algiers was largely spared from flooding.
Algiers residents are traditionally called Algerines .
Algiers also plays a role in the early history of jazz - Jazz musicians from Algiers included Peter Bocage , Jimmy Palao , Manuel Manetta , Frankie Dusen , Henry Allen senior and his son Henry Red Allen and Gerald Adams .