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1891 Map of New Orleans

Name: 1891 Topographic Map of New Orleans
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1898
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1898

About this map

The Mississippi River defines the landscape of this late nineteenth-century survey, its serpentine curves anchoring the dense urban grid of New Orleans and its surrounding riverbank settlements. While the city's heart is tightly developed around City Park, the map reveals the critical rail and water infrastructure of the era, including the Harvey's Canal and La Branche Canal that facilitated trade through the wetlands. Beyond the city limits, small river outposts like Gretna, Macdonoughville, and Algiers serve as vital transit hubs.

A complex network of bayous, such as Bayou Barataria and Bayou des Familles, drains the expansive marshland toward Lake Salvador and Lake Cataouatche. This terrain is crisscrossed by major rail lines, including the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Texas and Pacific Railroad, which competed for passage through the swampy gaps between the river and the Gulf. The map captures a moment before modern levees and drainage fully transformed the delta, showing the original footprints of communities like Jesuit Bend and Oakville.