<GNOCDC> Lakewood Neighborhood Snapshot

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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Although the information on this page is out-of-date, we are continuing to make it available, as it provides insight about this neighborhood pre-Katrina.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 As a result, you may find outdated information and broken links.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.

Lakewood Neighborhood Snapshot

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

Lakewood contains hidden pockets of extremely large homes as well as several large tracts of land dedicated to the most lavish cemetery in New Orleans, the Longue Vue Gardens, and the New Orleans Country Club.

Some of Lakewood’s history and development

The land comprising the Lakewood area originally belonged to several landowners. The land had once made up the Hazeur Plantation. Over time, the plantation became divided among family members and some sold their holdings to outsiders.

	Image courtesy New Orleans Public Library (nutrias.org). Permission for reuse required.
	Pontchartrain Boulevard at City Park Avenue, ca. 1955.[Alexander Allison Collection]

It took Joseph C. Thompson of Dayton, Ohio almost five years to locate all of the owners of parcels of the land in this area. In 1887, he leased the property to Paul E. Voorhies then a short time later, sold the land to Andrew Friedrichs. The land remained in the Friedrichs family until the mid-1920s.

In 1924, George Friedrichs, a son of Andrew, sold the property to Country Club Gardens with an agreement stipulating that he would be awarded an interest in the corporation. By 1930, the neighborhood was planned and the sale and subdivision of lots began.

Lakewood was affected by tracks of the Illinois Central and the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad lines, which discouraged residential development in the area. Also, the construction of the New Basin Canal along the present Pontchartrain Expressway attracted industrial activity along its frontage. However, substantial development finally occurred in this area by 1950, mainly single-family structures between the New Orleans Country Club and the parish line.

Today the 780 or so households in Lakewood are some of the wealthiest in New Orleans. It is not surprising that when the city decided to build an interstate loop to make the downtown area more accessible to the suburbs in the late 1960s, they took care not to adversely affect the high income and largely white neighborhood. They built the expressway along the New Basin Canal, the part of the neighborhood that was farthest from the largest homes.

Some historic sites in the Lakewood neighborhood

Image courtesy New Orleans Public Library (nutrias.org). Permission for reuse required.
Entrance to Metairie Cemetery [C. Milo Williams Collection]

Metairie Cemetery is one of the largest and most recent cemeteries. It was founded in 1872 and constructed on a site formerly occupied by the Metairie Race Course. Charles T. Howard converted the racetrack to a cemetery when he was refused membership in an exclusive Jockey Club because he made his money running the lottery.

The cemetery opened in 1873 with 150 acres of plots, tombs and ground burial places along with lots of space to expand. It originally housed victims of yellow fever who could not be buried within the city proper.


	© Longue Vue Gardens (www.longuevue.com)
	Longue Vue House & Gardens

Longue Vue Gardens was the home of late philanthropists Edgar Bloom Stern, a New Orleans cotton broker, and his wife Edith, an heir to the Sears Roebuck fortune. In 1940, Edith Biddle Shipman designed the gardens to consist of a large formal garden surrounded by six smaller gardens. Each garden is unique.

Longue Vue Gardens was opened to the public in 1969 and is still a popular and beautiful attraction in New Orleans.

The New Orleans Country Club was incorporated on December 31, 1913. The site is bounded by Metairie Road, Palmetto, Hamilton, and Pontchartrain Expressway and was once Oakland Park. The facility offers golf, tennis, track, boating and areas for lounging and dining. The golf course at this exclusive country club was built in 1914 by Joseph Bartholomew, an African American man recognized around the country for his golf course designs. Mr. Bartholomew also designed and built City Park Gold Courses 1 and 2.

Sources:

Mid-City New Orleans and the “Cities of the Dead”
www.123neworleans.com/midcity.htm

Yahoo Sports page on the New Orleans Country Club Golf Course
http://sports.yahoo.golfserv.com/apps/courses/profile.asp?Crs=1135
Specifications of the golf course.

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

For more information:

The Longue Vue Website
www.longuevue.com
Learn more about events and exhibits, the house and the discovery garden for children.

Realtor Tommy Crane’s web site
http://www.tommycrane.com/framesets%20and%20mains/lakeview%20verbage%20alt.htm
Tommy Crane’s description of the lakefront neighborhoods.

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Last modified: October 5, 2002