Headline Events in New Orleans History
New Orleans has played host to a wide variety of events over time, both natural occurrences and the results of human actions. Learn more about these notable events by using this timeline and researching them in local newspapers online or on microfilm at City Archives & Special Collections. Check out our How-To Guide for searching our Newspaper Databases.
See her obituary in the Daily Picayune June 17, 1881 p. 8 c. 4.
New Orleans hosts the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition.
Vitascope Hall, said to be the first movie house in America, opened at the corner of Canal St. and Exchange Place in 1896.
We do not have an exact date for the opening, but it was between July 18 and July 27, 1896.
Storyville, New Orleans legalized "Red Light District," operated from 1897-1917.
The Axeman of New Orleans killed his first victim, Joseph Maggia.
This bridge connects Elmwood to Bridge City.
Also known simply as The Causeway, this bridge connects Metairie to Mandeville.
The seventh deadliest hurricane on record kills at least 500 people.
Now known as the Crescent City Connection, this bridge connects Downtown and Algiers in New Orleans.
"Race Screens" are removed from NOPSI busses.
Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost integrate William Frantz Elementary and McDonogh 19 Elementary Schools. Coverage of this can be found by searching the school names, but not the students' names.
Eastern Flight 304 crashes into Lake Ponchartrain.
The Beatles perform in New Orleans at City Park Stadium.
Hurricane Betsy strikes New Orleans on September 9, 1965.
Airplane crashes at Airport Hilton in Kenner.
Hurricane Camille is one of only 4 hurricanes to hit the continental US as a category 5 storm.
New Orleans policemen, State Troopers, and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputies fire over 30,000 rounds at the local Black Panthers headquarters in the Desire housing project. All 12 men, women, and children in the building escape, but 9 were arrested.
US House Representative Boggs disappears and is declared dead after the plane he is traveling on crashes in Alaska.
The upper floors of Rault Center office building catch fire, but the firemen's ladders can only reach 12 stories. 5 women from the 15th floor jump to the next building, but only 1 survives. As a result, fire suppression systems are made a requirement for office buildings around the country.
Angered by racism encountered in the Navy and police brutality in the United States, Mark Essex, a former Navy sailor, sneaks into the Howard Johnson hotel and starts shooting white people. He also starts fires and shoots some of the cops sent to find him. He dies on the roof of the hotel.
An arsonist attacked the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar, and killed 32 people.
Extensive street flooding in New Orleans.
Mardi Gras cancelled due to Police Strike.
PanAm flight 759 crashes in Kenner.
The last day of rides at Ponchartrain Amusement Park.
The opening day of the Louisiana World Exposition (World's Fair).
Pope John Paul II visits New Orleans.
Repairs to the roof of the Louisiana State Museum at the Cabildo start a fire that damages or destroys hundreds of historical artifacts. Repairs are completed, and the space reopens as a completely reorganized space in 1994.
Opening of the second span across the Mississippi River in New Orleans. The bridges would be renamed "Crescent City Connection" on March 17, 1989.
Grand opening of the Aquarium of the Americas.
Hurricane Andrew hits the US as a category 5 storm.
Grand opening of Harrah's New Orleans Casino at the Municipal Auditorium. In 1999, the casino would move to its current location on Canal Street.
Extensive street flooding in New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina is the third deadliest hurricane to hit the continental US.
The New Orleans Saints win the Superbowl.
3 people died when the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel, still under construction, collapsed.
New Orleans residents decided to decorate their homes as parade floats in response to the cancellation of all Mardi Gras parades due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployed parade float artists are commissioned to complete some of the designs.
Hurricane Ida makes landfall 16 years to the day of Hurricane Katrina.