ViaNolaVie, October 20, 2023, Historic Preservation In New Orleans
By the 1980s, New Orleans’ economy was changing. A new convention center and the Superdome provided new and exciting event spaces. The oil industry had faltered, and “by March 1986, the oil bust had caused Louisiana’s unemployment rate to hit 13.2 percent, the highest in the country and nearly 6 percentage points above the national average.”
So when New Orleans, along with other struggling cities, turned to gambling to fuel its economy, the Rivergate site was a prime candidate for a new casino. Harrah’s planned to reuse the Rivergate, but the local construction lobby and city officials favored demolition. Passionate architects, planners, and even a nomination from the National Register of Historic Places attempted to save the Rivergate from destruction, but to no avail. In January 1995, demolition crews began the destruction process, and a great modern event space was replaced by a run-of-the-mill neoclassical building.
Gentrification and the changing of historic neighborhoods like this has dozens of parallels in American cities. A study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) identified more than 1,000 neighborhoods in 935 cities and towns where gentrification occurred between 2000 and 2013.
