Irish in New Orleans? You betcha.
It may seem like New Orleans throws a parade at the drop - or a tip - of a hat. But, we sure do have a lot to celebrate.
After all, our history includes so many people from different places, including the Irish. It turns out we have enough Irish heritage to throw not one but six parades!
They include The Irish Channel Parade (Mardi Gras style uptown a week before St Patricks Day), The Downtown Walking St Patrick's Day Parade (what it sounds like), the Irish-Italian St Joseph's Parade, Louisiana Irish-Italian Parade, Irish-Italian Islenos Parade at St.Bernard, and the St Patrick's Parade Metairie Road.
We once had enough Irish residents in New Orleans to name a whole neighborhood after them. Many Irish migrated to New Orleans to build a massive canal.
Canal Street?! Nope. While Canal street was slated to become a canal, it never actually happened. But several others did.
Digging these canals was important to work. The canals brought timber down from the cypress forests between today's Claiborne and the lake. If you live in an old uptown home, it's likely your framing has a canal to thank.
Building these canals took a considerable workforce. And it was dangerous work too.
Between 4,000 and 30,000 Irishmen died digging just the New Basin canal, which ran from Lake Pontchartrain to the booming uptown area in the 1830s. They were compensated $1 an hour for their efforts. About $30/day by today's standards.
The New Basin canal ran for more than three miles and was about 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep.
It transported the bald cypress trees harvested from the swampy area now called Lakeview for decades. The timber was used to build whole uptown neighborhoods.
The New Basin canal remained important throughout the 1800s and existed until the rise of parkways in the mid-1900s. It was filled following World War II when it became Basin Street.
The Irish workers who built the canal were primarily immigrants escaping the potato famine in Ireland, and many called Central City and the Lower Garden District home. There was such a concentration of Irish workers and their families that this particular part of New Orleans was renamed The Irish Channel.
When the canals were complete, those that survived, their families, and their successors primarily worked at the Port of Orleans. These jobs and the affordable cost of living made the area ideal.
They also found good work at the impressive number of breweries near the port.
Simple shotgun houses sprung up to accommodate the booming number of Irish transplants, and those homes remain today.
Today the Irish Channel is home to people from every walk of life. Black, white, multi-generational, new transplants. It's a thriving neighborhood flanked by vibrant shops, restaurants, quite a few breweries, and, of course, those shotgun homes.
So this March, if you find yourself sipping a beer - green or not - tip your hat and pour a glass to our Irish ancestors. We have them to thank for Tchoupitoulas breweries, many New Orleans customs, six parades, and the timber that built so much of New Orleans.
Elisa Cool Murphy is a bit Irish. You'll note her freckles in Summer. She became a whole lot more Irish when she married a Murphy.
Voted Neighborhood Favorite by Nextdoor, Team Cool Murphy is a top-producing, licensed real estate team based in New Orleans, brokered by Cool Murphy, LLC.
Celebrated for her next-level creative approach to real estate, Elisa Cool Murphy is an award-winning, top-performing agent in New Orleans and the founder and leader of Cool Murphy, LLC.
Contact Her -
email: cool@coolmurphy.com
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phone: 504-321-3194
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