<GNOCDC> Viavant/ Venetian Isles Neighborhood Snapshot

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish New Orleans East District Viavant/ Venetian Isles Snapshot

This information is pre-Katrina.
Although the information on this page is out-of-date, we are continuing to make it available, as it provides insight about this neighborhood pre-Katrina.

Post-Katrina, we will not be making any changes or updates to this page. As a result, you may find outdated information and broken links.

For current data about New Orleans and its neighborhoods, visit our homepage.

Viavant/ Venetian Isles Neighborhood Snapshot

Census 2000 Data Tables: People & Household Characteristics, Housing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Neighborhood Characteristics

The Viavant /Venetian Isles neighborhood is home to significant manufacturing and training facilities in New Orleans. Together with the adjacent Lake Catherine neighborhood it represents the largest tract of predominantly uninhabited land within the boundaries of the city of New Orleans.

NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility

Michoud, the son of Napoleon's Administrator of Domains, operated a sugar cane plantation and refinery in this area until his death in 1863.

	© GNO Community Data Center
	NASA booster rocket in front of the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility.

Two brick smokestacks from the original refinery still stand in front of what is now the Michoud facility.

In 1940, with the outbreak of World War II, the U.S. government purchased a 1,000 acre tract in this area and within three years, constructed the world's largest building at that time – 43 acres under one roof. The Higgins Aircraft Plant produced plywood cargo planes and landing craft for World War II, and Sherman and Patton tank engines for the Korean War. In 1961, when the space race with the Russians heated up, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) took over the facility for design and assembly of large space vehicles. The first residential growth in the area coincided with the reactivation of the Michoud Assembly Facility in 1961.

NASA Michoud assembly facility

Delgado’s Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Facility

Located in this neighborhood is Delgado Community College’s Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Facility. This training academy has earned an international reputation for providing high quality, affordable, U.S. Coast Guard-approved training.

Delgado Community College’s Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Facility

	© GNO Community Data Center
	The Folger's Coffee Plant.

Folger’s – a major New Orleans employer

The world’s largest coffee roasting plant is located in Viavant/Venetian Isles. Folgers Coffee Co. receives coffee from around the world at Mississippi River docks to bring for roasting at this plant. Folgers’ activity in the city makes New Orleans the largest coffee port in the U.S.

A bit about Viavant/Venetian Isles’ history

The area west of Paris Road is called Viavant because the Viavant family were major landowners in the area. The area east of Paris Road is referred to as Venetian Isles. Venetian Isles had been under single ownership since it was first granted to Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent in 1763. During the next 200 years several well-known New Orleans families, such as De Clouet, Lafon, and Michoud owned the land.

For more information...

1999 Land Use Plan New Orleans City Planning Commission
www.new-orleans.la.us/cnoweb/cpc/1999_dist_nine.htm

Neighborhood Profiles Project Document prepared by the City of New Orleans Office of Policy Planning and the City Planning Commission. Published December 1980. Study available at the Williams Research Center (non-circulating collection).

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish New Orleans East District Viavant/ Venetian Isles Snapshot

Last modified: October 4, 2002