Media Clips

Algiers Accent
Welcome signs lead to history lesson
Algiers' name made official in 1840
The Times Picayune • Amy Hubbell
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Have you noticed the new "Welcome to Algiers" signs? They've sprung up at five major entrances to Algiers: on Franklin Street and on Whitney/L.B. Landry as you enter from Gretna, on the West Bank Expressway's lower drive at the Donner Canal, on Behrman Highway next to the Brechtel Memorial Park Municipal Golf Course and on the Lower Coast as you enter from Plaquemines Parish.

In addition to reminding me of how big Algiers is, the signs got me to wondering about the origins of the name. I asked Algiers historian Kevin Herridge, and as usual he had loads of information.

He said that there are overlapping theories about how Algiers got its name, several outlined by Richard Dixon in his book, "Algiers -- My Home Town." The simplest may be "because Commodore Stephen Decatur, the great American naval hero, defeated the Barbary pirates off the coast of Algeria and Tunisia. It inspired the naming of Algiers and the Lower Coast community of Tunisberg." Decatur had quite a high profile in the early 1800s.

Other theories point to the large numbers of people of color in Algiers, once a landing point for slaves coming from Africa, and the site of several plantations. In his "The Catholic Church in Louisiana 1848-1948," published in the early 1950s, the Rev. J. Francis Georgelin wrote, "Perhaps it was the presence of this large number of Negroes that prompted the French Creoles of Algiers, so inclined to give nicknames, to call the place 'Algiers.' " Dixon highlighted a similar theory, but during the time of Spanish rule, when soldiers were returning from an expedition against Algeria.

Herridge believes it's likely "because of the proximity of France to Algeria, with the Mediterranean Sea between. It makes sense geographically, with the city of New Orleans on one side of the river, reminding residents of France, and Algiers, with its large slave population working the fields, reminding residents of North Africa." He agreed that returning soldiers likely had a role. "On the West Bank, a large African slave presence would have been visible from ships coming upriver into port, reminding soldiers and sailors aboard of their North African campaigns."

The 1895 "Publications of the Louisiana Historical Society" told a bit of a different story about how we got our name. "Tradition has it that a prominent merchant of New Orleans (J. W. Zacherie), one day, returning from an inspection of his vessels in the dock at that place took refuge in a barroom during a storm. The dock laborers placed a handkerchief across the door as a sign to not let him out until he treated the crowd" to a round of drinks. "At that time the country was thrilled with the exploits of Decatur against the Algerine pirates. So the merchant yielded to their demand to treat, calling them a pack of Algiers pirates." The name stuck, the author claimed.

Whatever the inspiration, Herridge says, "The name did not become official until 1840. The history of the name may have preceded that by years, gradually being accepted into common usage."

Not long after, in 1851, A. Oakey Hall had some not-so-kind words for us. Hall spent some time in New Orleans before returning to his native New York and becoming mayor of that city in 1869. In his "The Manhattaner in New Orleans," he wrote, "Algiers, a fitting cognomen for an uncivilized strip of land, sleepily eyeing New Orleans over a mile of muddy water." Had he not died in 1898 I'd suggest a few of us head up to the Big Apple and give him a stern talking-to! On the other hand, I suppose we know that sometimes mayors say things we wish they hadn't.

Nevertheless, it's a good thing we have some folks looking out for us now.

"The Algiers Development District's Board of Commissioners received a special state appropriation in 2007-08 from then-Sen. Francis Heitmeier," said Kathy Lynn Honaker, executive director of the Algiers Development District. "The money had to be used to benefit all of Algiers." The signs were one of several initiatives financed through that budget.

Board Member Tom Arnold said, "We hope the 'Welcome to Algiers' signs will add to the pride in Algiers for our community members."

The Algiers Development District has had some big projects, including taking a leadership role in selling the "federal city" concept to the Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, Commission, partnering with the city to pay for the Kabel Drive expansion, working to revitalize the Behrman Sports Complex, and more.

The signs, though, could have been a much greater challenge. For a time, according to Dixon, Algiers was called "Slaughter House Point," thanks to the French colonial slaughter house located there. I'm thinking big signs saying "Welcome to Slaughter House Point!" wouldn't have been nearly as nice.