Louisiana

In 1887, local businessmen and promoters secured a minor league franchise for the city of New Orleans in the newly formed Southern League, beginning the city's 73-year love affair with the New Orleans Pelicans. From Shoeless Joe Jackson, to Hall of Famers Dazzy Vance, Joe Sewell, Bob Lemon, and Earl Weaver, to today's stars such as Jeff Cirillo and Lance Berkman, the road to the majors brought many notable players through New Orleans. From these early beginnings to the present-day New Orleans Zephyrs of the AAA Pacific Coast League, local fans have continued the tradition of baseball in New Orleans.

Rare and vintage images document the fascinating history of Louisiana's Shreveport, from its settlement in the early nineteenth century to its modern day importance.

Shreveport, Louisiana, is a town with a history as fascinating as it is long. From the settlement of the area at the start of the nineteenth century, through the city's founding in 1836, to Shreveport's role as state capital during the Civil War, up until its present-day role as one of Louisiana's leading cities, figures ranging from snagboat operators to Huey P. Long have worked, lived, and played in this city by the Red River.

Lafayette was founded as Vermilionville in 1822 by Jean Mouton, a prosperous landowner of Acadian descent whose donations of land for a Catholic church and the parish courthouse ensured the town's future.

The arrival of the railroad in 1880, the founding of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute in 1900, and the growth of the oil industry in the 20th century further contributed to the city's prosperity. Lafayette experienced its share of hard times brought on by the Civil War, regional flooding, hurricanes, and economic depressions, but survived on the strength andgenerosity of its close-knit citizens. Lafayette has long been known as the Hub City of Acadiana, the economic and cultural center of southwest Louisiana. Today it is widely known for its food, music, and festivals that celebrate not only its Cajun and Creole heritage, but also its many other European, Middle Eastern, and African cultural roots.

Today three towns and five villages are located in north Caddo Parish, while the memories of 10 historic communities remain strong.

In 1835, the United States purchased close to one million acres of land from the Caddo Confederacy of Native Americans; the Louisiana portion became known as Caddo Parish. The Indian agency's protection of that land delayed the settlement of the parish for 25 years or more after it began in other parts of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. The Red River logjam that existed for a few hundred years backed up bayous, which in return created navigable streams and lakes. The uplands contained massive stands of virgin timbers and bountiful fruit, berries, fish, and game. The first land patents were sold in 1841, and by 1850, the area was known as Caddo Prairie. For a majority of the next 100 years, steamboat traffic, homesteaders, plantations, subsistence farmers, logging operations, entrepreneurs, and a building boom brought on by the railroad and oil industries uniquely melded to define local, cultural history.

Fear, rumor and white supremacist ideals clashed with an unprecedented labor action spawned an epic tragedy.

On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations. A future member of the U.S. House of Representatives was among the leaders of a mob that routed black men from houses and forced them to a stretch of railroad track, ordering them to run for their lives before gunning them down. According to a witness, the guns firing in the black neighborhoods sounded like a battle. Author and award-winning reporter John DeSantis uses correspondence, interviews and federal records to detail this harrowing true story.

Check out the town of Houma, Louisiana's local and internationally-known industry, homes, churches, schools, events, people and more within these pages.

Houma is a name derived from a tribe of Native Americans who settled in what is now Terrebonne Parish, or ""Good Earth."" The town's residents come from French, German, Italian, Scotch and English ancestry. This mix makes for an interesting cross-section of cultures in a charming Louisiana community. Fifty miles southwest of New Orleans and easily accessible from U.S. Highway 90, also known as ""The Old Spanish Trail,"" Houma is also bisected by the Intracoastal Waterway. It has been dubbed the ""Venice of North America,"" because it is the epicenter of six bayous, all of which were at one time tributaries of the Mississippi River.

Houma and the surrounding communities have become known throughout the world for an abundance of seafood, including dried shrimp. The process of drying shrimp is truly unique, as it is only done in this area of the country. Indeed, a dried shrimp packing plant still operates on Main Street in downtown Houma. The production of sugar and other agricultural products, and later the oil industry, also played major roles in Houma's rich history.

Join Tulane University Archivist Ann E. Smith Case as she recounts the history of this illustrious university using vintage images.

Tulane University was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young doctors who saw the need for trained physicians in the city of New Orleans. In 1847, it evolved into the public University of Louisiana, also offering law, liberal arts, and science coursework; it became a private institution in 1884 after Paul Tulane's donation. The addition of Newcomb College, the nation's first coordinate women's college, completed the university's basic structure in 1886. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, forcing Tulane to close for a semester. It emerged from the floodwaters restructured and renewed into the progressive university focused on public service that it is today. The photographs in this book take readers through the collegiate experience of former Tulane and Newcomb students to illustrate the meaning of the Tulane motto, ""Non sibi sed suis""--""Not for one's self, but for one's own.""

New Orleans history is steeped in coffee. Café du Monde and Morning Call started serving café au lait more than a century ago.

Outside the Cathedral of St. Louis in Jackson Square, early entrepreneurs like Old Rose provided eager churchgoers with the brew, and it was sold in the French Market beginning in the late 1700s. People gathered for business, socializing, politics and auctions at five hundred coffee exchanges and shops in the 1800s. Since 1978, myriad specialty coffee shops have opened to meet increasing demand for great coffee. Author Suzanne Stone presents the full story of this celebrated tradition, including how chicory became part of the city's special flavor.

Over the course of many decades, the city of Shreveport witnessed dramatic growth and ever-changing landscapes.

Mule-drawn railways gave way to electric streetcars, and what was once the Confederate capital of the state became today's vibrant commercial hub of northwest Louisiana. Drawing from their extensive image collection, authors Joiner and Roberson depict the forgotten scenes and lost stories that form the complex layers of Shreveport history. From the famous performances of Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show to the infamous red-light district, from the decline of vigilante justice to the victims who perished from yellow fever, Joiner and Roberson recover and remember lost Shreveport.

Engulfed by the bayou, Lafourche is a parish rich in history and culture known for its close-knit, family-centered communities.

The parish was originally inhabited by Native American tribes and later by European, African, and English settlers, and many of the residents of Lafourche can trace their ancestry back to these early settlers, strengthening the sense of community that is distinctive to southern Louisiana. The fertile bayou delta fostered small vegetable farms as well as large sugarcane plantations that continue to thrive. The numerous waterways and marshes of the parish produce bountiful catches of fish, seafood, and other wildlife, giving rise to its reputation as a sportsmen's paradise. The parish's economy is also made up of a shipbuilding industry as well as the oil industry, and because of the continuous pattern of homes and businesses that sprung up organically along the bayou, many refer to the town as the "Longest Street in the World."

Metairie was the first suburb of New Orleans; an outgrowth to the west by young families seeking larger lots, open air, and affordable new housing.

Those suburbanites shared much in common with previous generations of New Orleanians who had migrated westward from the original town (now the French Quarter) to high land along the Mississippi River and the Metairie Ridge. When Jefferson Parish was established in 1825, it included all New Orleans faubourgs west of Felicity Street--what we now know as Uptown New Orleans. These would become the first cities in Jefferson Parish: Carrolton, Jefferson, and Lafayette. By the early 1900s, the westward expansion continued into what we now call Old Metairie and Bucktown. During the mid-20th century, Metairie boomed and is now one of the largest communities in Louisiana. While many residents consider themselves New Orleanians, even those born generations after their families moved to the suburb, Metairie has its own unique history.

Discover the rich heritage and history of Union Parish, Louisiana as preserved by local author W. Gene Barron.

In the late 1830s, prominent local settlers Peter J. Harvey, John Taylor, Col. Matthew Wood, Philip Feazle, Daniel Payne, Stephen Colvin, and Mills Farmer of upper Ouachita Parish Wiley Underwood petitioned the Louisiana Legislature for the creation of a new parish. Created by the legislature on May 13, 1839, it was given the name Union, supposedly because Daniel Webster stated, ""Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable."" By the 1850s, settlers streamed into the parish from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most came by steamboat, landing at a point on the Ouachita River, which became known as the Alabama Landing since many Alabamians arrived there. Agriculture always dominated the Union Parish economy, evolving from cotton and corn in the 1840s to the 1950s to cattle, timber, and poultry today

For those that call the one of the oldest settlements in Acadia Parish home, there is so much more to the community than meets the eye. The development of Rayne as it grew from Pouppeville to Rayne Station to an important hub for the frog, rice, and cotton markets played an important role in establishing a very unique cultural foundation. Influences of a multitude of heritages, including French and German, have driven Rayne's evolution in economics, politics, and architecture, as well as its its rich musical roots.

Paul Malone visits 43 picturesque landmarks of New Orleans' famed Garden District to capture the grandeur of these mansions.

Abandoned Louisiana: Under a Bayou Moon is a photographic journey through the Bayou State by the light of the silvery moon. Some of these places are so hidden that, unless you are a local, you have no idea they even exist. Others are in plain sight, but are probably considered to be eyesores. These sites can take on an other-worldly appearance when photographed at night, with the addition of a little creative lighting.

If you have an interest in the history of Louisiana, this unique view of over 200 years of history is for you. Some of these places have disappeared due to neglect or the never-ending desire of man to bulldoze and replace with newer, bigger, and better. Others are still around, perhaps hidden behind overgrowth or on empty country roads. Regardless, this book will provide readers with a rarely-seen glimpse into Louisiana's culture.