Central City, New Orleans

Central City
3rd Ward
New Orleans Neighborhood
Second line parade in Central City, 2009
Nickname: Josephine
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
City	New Orleans
Planning District	District 6, Central City
Elevation	0 ft (0.0 m)
Coordinates	29°56′29″N 90°05′13″W / 29.94139°N 90.08694°W / 29.94139; -90.08694Coordinates: 29°56′29″N 90°05′13″W / 29.94139°N 90.08694°W / 29.94139; -90.08694
Area	1.41 sq mi (3.7 km2)
- land	1.41 sq mi (4 km2)
- water	0.00 sq mi (0 km2), 0%
Population	6,417 (2010)
Density	4,551/sq mi (1,757/km2)
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code	504

Central City is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. It is located at the lower end of Uptown, just above the New Orleans Central Business District, on the "lakeside" of St. Charles Avenue. A subdistrict of the Central City/Garden District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: MLK Boulevard, South Claiborne Avenue and the Pontchartrain Expressway to the north, Magazine, Thalia, Prytania and Felicity Streets and St. Charles Avenue to the south and Toledano Street, Louisiana Avenue and Washington Avenue to the west. This old predominantly African American neighborhood has been important in the city's brass band and Mardi Gras Indian traditions.

The area closest to Saint Charles Avenue developed first, in the first half of the 19th Century, booming with the opening of the New Orleans & Carrollton Railway, which became the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar line. The opening of the New Basin Canal at the neighborhood's lower end contributed to the area's development as a center of commerce and a working class residential area, attracting many Irish, Italian, and German immigrants. After the American Civil War many African Americans from rural areas settled in this part of the city. By the 1870s, the urbanized area extended back to Claiborne Avenue. Dryades Street in this area was a neighborhood commercial district by the 1830s. In 1849 the public Dryades Market was built, and served as an anchor for almost 100 years. The commercial district thrived in the first half of the 20th century, becoming the city's largest commercial district patronized by African American during the Jim Crow law era and a major hub for the Uptown African American community, overtaking the older South Rampart Street area in importance. At its height in the years after World War II, the Dryades Street district boasted over 200 businesses, with businesses owned primarily by Jews and some African Americans.