1891 Map of Spanish Fort

About this map

Spanish Fort and the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain anchor this late 19th-century survey of the northern edge of New Orleans. The map documents the city's relationship with the water at a time when lakeside settlements like Milneburg and West End served as important recreational and transit hubs. The grid of the city is already firmly established in the lower portion of the sheet, though much of the area remains low-lying marshland and cypress swamp before the massive drainage projects of the early 20th century transformed the landscape.