Derby Gisclair

... considered by many to be the harbinger of bad news from the War Department. The company has been restructured and reinvented several times over the years, but is still in business. Delivery boys on their bicycles were phased out long ago.

... of telegraph lines and 2 international undersea cables. They introduced the first consumer charge card (1914), teletypewriters (1923), and the ever popular singing telegram (1933) followed by the Candygram (1959). During World War II the Western Union telegram was ... (continued)

... organized in Rochester, New York, and Western Union was born. At one point they were the chief technological innovator in America with the first transcontinental telegraph (1861), the first stock ticker (1866), money transfer service (1871). By 1900 they operated 1-million miles ... (continued)

A Western Union delivery on his trusty bicycle pauses for a moment to be photographed in 1913. I would not envy him his route over the streets of New Orleans. In 1851, the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was ... (continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

"Duck, Duck, Goose," and he does.

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #birds #nature #photography

“That's why baseball is more like life than other games. Sometimes I feel like that's all I do in life, keep track of my errors.”
~ Michael Chabon

#quotes #baseball

... the expansion of downtown New Orleans in the mid-1930’s to 1950s, the facility was deconsecrated and the remains relocated to the Hope Mausoleum, Providence Memorial Park, and Lake Lawn Mausoleum.

... constructed cheaply, quickly, and without proper much thought. One such tragedy was the old Girod Cemetery that was constructed to serve the Protestant community. Between the frequent flooding and overcrowding, combined with the proximity to railroad operations and ... (continued)

As I have often posted, the history of New Orleans cemeteries is part and parcel of the history of the waves of different epidemics that swept through the city during the 19th century. Because of the ever growing demand, many facilities were ... (continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

However, once Prohibition ended, the decision was made to close the plants and shift focuses back to brewing beer. The ice cream business was sold in 1930.

Sales of frozen egg nog and a chocolate-covered ice cream bar called “Smack” in the product line proved so successful that additional ice cream plants were opened in Oklahoma City and New York City, and by1926 annual sales exceeded one million gallons. (continued)

Anheuser-Busch produced ice cream in New Orleans on February 15, 1920, shortly after the beginning of Prohibition. Their factory was located at Gravier and South Front Streets (roughly where the Four Seasons Hotel/World Trade Center is today). (continued)

... be in the same location. Among the many signs on display are Jax Beer, Lipton Tea, Anheuser Busch Ice Cream, Coca-Cola, Union Coffee, and Bond Bread signs are displayed in front. There is also a small sign for the telephone company. A horse drawn ice wagon is also in front. (continued)

Their rudimentary sign promotes the benefits of “pure milk only $0.07.” The fellow on the right appears to be the same man but has a different companion on the left. Plus the mule-drawn ice wagon is gone in the second image but the rocks on the road and gutter appear to ... (continued)

Photographer Georges Francois Mugnier captured two versions of this slice of life in New Orleans around 1920 showing two men standing in front of Mendoza’s Confectionery and Oyster Saloon. (continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 7:00pm at the East Bank Regional Library in Metairie.

Check It Out!
 
The next Third Thursday Lecture will be a fun-filled presentation on Makin’ Groceries! Please make plans to join Edward Branley and Derby Gisclair as they take you through more than 300 years of food shopping history. (continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

Another feral chicken stalking the shadows near the bird sanctuary at Lafreniere Park.

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #birds #nature #photography

"Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way. It gives you a moment to breathe and think, and to get away from what you're working on."
~ David Byrne

#quotes #cycling

... the American Sugar Refinery. The line of peak-shaped roofed buildings were the sugar sheds where sacks and barrels of sugar and molasses were held awaiting trans-shipment. The second image shows stacks of sugar sacks in the adjacent warehouse.

When viewing the first photograph of the New Orleans levee, people often ask “Which hotel is that in the left background?” To which I have to inform them that this was not a hotel but an industrial facility located near the foot of Canal Street: ... (continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

A rare moment of peace with a Black Bellied Whistling Duck.

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... often absent as they resided in the city jail for short periods of time. It was alternatively known as the Dauphine Mansion and was lovingly restored in 1997.

Thus the building and indeed the neighborhood began a slow downward spiral. Over the years the building has been a gambling house (1884), a cigar factory (1885 – 1890), a fight club, a seltzer water plant (1905), and a boarding house (1934) whose residents were ... (continued)

According to the newspaper reports of the day, he collapsed and died before medical help could arrive. The autopsy revealed that he had ingested cyanide. While suicide was suspected, but it was later revealed that someone had put cyanide into Barrera’s medicine bottle. (continued)

... his official residence and from 1871 to 1877 it was the Spanish Consulate. That, however, was the building’s zenith. Don Severino de la Barrera had succeeded Pie as the consul and on March 24, 1877, he discovered that he had been poisoned while having brunch with a friend. (continued)

Located at 521 Dauphine Street, the Xiques Mansion was constructed in 1852 for Spanish merchant Angel Xiques. His firm, Laborde & Xiques, specialized in the import of products from Cuba. Following Xiques’s death in 1859, Carlos Victor Pie made this ...(continued)

#nolasky #nola #neworleans #history

"It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf."
~ H. L. Mencken

#quotes #billiards #pool

Pictured is an old charcoal schooner moored on the Old Basin Canal. The shallow-draft sailing vessels were used to transport charcoal from the Northshore into New Orleans to power the city.

... also known as the Carondelet Canal, which ran from present day Basin Street near St. Louis Street (named for the turning basin at one end of the canal) out to Bayou St. John. It was filled by 1938 and the Lafitte Greenway now runs its course over the old canal. (continued)