Milneburg, New Orleans

This article is about the modern neighborhood. For the historic 19th and 20th century town and neighborhood, see Milneburg.

Milneburg is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Leon C. Simon Drive to the north, People's Avenue to the east, Filmore Avenue to the south and Elysian Fields Avenue to the west. It takes its name from Milneburg, a historic town and neigborhood formerly located a short distance north of the modern neighborhood.

Geography

Milneburg is located at 30°01′09″N 90°03′12″W Template:GR and has an elevation of 0 feet (0.0 m)Template:GR. According to the United States Census Bureau, the district has a total area of 0.73 square miles (1.9 km²). 0.73 square miles (1.9 km²) of which is land and 0.00 square miles (0.0 km²) (0.0%) of which is water.

Adjacent Neighborhoods

• Lake Terrace/Lake Oaks (north)
• Pontchartrain Park (east)
• Gentilly Terrace (south)
• St. Anthony (west)

Boundaries

The City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of Milneburg as these streets: Leon C. Simon Drive, People's Avenue, Filmore Avenue and Elysian Fields Avenue.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 5,640 people, 2,194 households, and 1,507 families residing in the neighborhood. The population density was 7,726 /mi² (2,968 /km²).

Description

About a mile south of Lake Pontchartrain lies the neighborhood of Milneburg. Its residents consist of University teachers from the University of New Orleans, single-family residents and retirees. There are programs available out of the University that you can be a part of. The area also has many churches, a police station, and also a highschool nearby.

The area around these sites is still sometimes referred to as Milneburg, but the term is more usually heard in reference to the historic place.

The neighborhood now designated as "Milneburg" by the New Orleans Planning Commission is actually to the south and inland of the historic Milneburg. The actual boundaries are still somewhat uncertain, with some groups saying Milneburg is located in the area bordered by the streets of St. Roch, Elysian Fields, Filmore and Mexico, while others groups state the area is much larger, going from Leon C. Simon to Filmore, and Elysian Fields to Franklin.

The types of homes in the area vary a small bit, but most can be classified as single-family dwellings. There were only a few shotgun doubles, a very popular style of housing in the city of New Orleans. The architectural styles of the homes would come under Louisiana Vernacular and Louisiana Vistorian. These terms designate the style that a home has. Vernacular homes usually have deep one and two story porches, high ceilings with columns, French doors with full-length windows and large shutters. Homes of this type are said to have either a Creole or Acadian influenced design. Victorian homes have a simple and elegant design about them, consisting of arches, large porches, and quite a bit of decorative millwork.

Post-Katrina Information

According to the 2000 Census taken by the U.S. Census Bureau, before Hurricane Katrina, Milneburg had a population of 5,640 residents with total households numbering 2,204. With no post-Katrina information available, one can only speculate at the current population. But after one year, firsthand observations have shown that the number of current residents living in the area is no more than 200, if that, all of which are living in trailers. The local business population is practically non-existent, with the only open stores being a Walgreens, Burger King and Mc. Donalds.

A notable place in the local area is the Avery Alexander Elementary School. As of now, it is still in the process of being cleaned. According to some residents, they are unsure as to what will become of the school. One resident said that he was told it was going to be torn down, stating in some disgust, "If there are no schools, the people are not going to come back."

The neighborhood organization that works in the area is the Milneburg Civic Association. At this moment, they are focused on cleaning up the area and getting their homes and their lives up and running again. Their desire is to have a neighborhood with most homes being single-family residences. They are becoming very involved, advertising beautification days and the like. On the commercial side, they were very adamant about zoning out types of businesses that are not friendly to residential areas, such as bars. They want more family friendly businesses in the area like coffee shops, laundry cleaners and small restaurants.

See also

• New Orleans neighborhoods
• Gentilly, New Orleans