NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Louisiana has marked two out of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places list, and both of them are in the southeast portion of the state.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has added the West Bank of St. John the Baptist Parish to the list, joining New Orleans’ Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church (still known by many locals as “Perseverance Hall”) in the 7th Ward. Organizers say the list aims to shed light on the threats facing some of the nation’s most historically-rich areas.
West Bank of St. John Parish
Located along one of the last ‘untouched’ areas along the highly-industrialized Mississippi River, the West Bank of St. John the Baptist Parish has been deemed one of the most endangered places in the country, but it wasn’t always like that.
Originally started as a farming community by German immigrants in the mid-1700s, the area quickly became known as the “Second German Coast.” Historians say these farmers helped supply food to the city of New Orleans in its early years by sending their crops down the river each week for sale.
In its history, St. John Parish also housed thousands of enslaved people who worked on plantations in the area, including the Whitney and Evergreen plantations. After the Civil War, many Black soldiers who joined the Union Army returned home as free men and founded the nearby village of Wallace. To this day, the descendants of those who were enslaved still live in the area.
Today, the area is colloquially known as “Cancer Alley,” eluding to the high miscarriage and cancer rates along the 85-mile stretch due to the high amounts of toxins released into the atmosphere, namely by nearly manufacturing plants. However, the West Bank of St. John remains untouched by manufacturing plants, but historians and scientists say it won’t be like that for long if action isn’t taken now.
According to the NTHP, there are five sites being eyed by manufacturing plants along the St. John Parish West Bank, including one located adjacent to the town of Wallace. Organizers say grain export company Greenfield Louisiana, LLC would construct a new plant equivalent to the size of the Caesars Superdome.
Greenfield Louisiana isn’t acting alone, the trust says. The company has received help from the Port of South Louisiana, which is tax-exempt due to a 30-year Payment in lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement. According to the NTHP, the Port owns the land and is leasing it to Greenfield, helping the company dodge more than $200 million in property taxes.
We’re told the permit for the grain terminal is under review by the US Army Corps of Engineers to weigh the possible impacts to the nearby area rich in historic significance. Advocates are urging the Corps to deny the permit, saying that a plant along the West Bank will threaten the area with a loss of people who have lived in the area for generations, its rich natural ecosystem, along with a huge hit to the parish’s film and tourism industry.
In a statement, Chief Preservation Officer for the NTHP says:
“If a port and industrial sites are allowed to get a foothold in the West Bank of St. John the Baptist Parish, this distinctive culture, its historic record and what the people can teach us will be lost within the next twenty years. When your family has existed for generations in a rural setting, you don’t want your kids to live entrenched in the noise, pollution and bright lights of an industrial zone.”
Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church (“Perseverance Hall”)
Dating back nearly 150 years, this building is one of the last-standing structures to house some of the city’s earliest jazz musicians. The church has also seen New Orleans through some of the most trying times in the city, from racial oppression to the wrath of hurricanes.
According to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, when the building opened on Villere Street in 1880, it served as the headquarters for La Société de la Perseverance, a society founded by free Creole people of color prior to the Civil War.
The building would go on to become a paramount for the progress of Black people in the 7th Ward. During a period where Black people were denied access to health insurance, the society helped support their own by exchanging medicial and funeral costs for the price of membership dues.
Serving also as a place for some of the first jazz musicians, including being one of the only places the “Father of Jazz” Buddy Bolden was believed to have played. Other big names to step foot in the venue include Sidney Bechet, Isidore Barbarin, and Joe “King” Oliver.
The building was purchased by the Holy Aid and Comfort Spiritual Church of Eternal Life in 1949 and has since been a place for spiritual refinement and solitude for the New Orleans community.
In 2021, the building, which was undergoing renovations and expansion at the time, sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Ida. Church staff members say the damage was so severe that they had to demolish the expansion to save the rest of the structure. The building later collapsed from the damage and since then, church leaders have been working to restore to the building to its former glory.
Get Involved
Want to take action and help preserve these historic sites? You can visit LTHP.org or savingplaces.org to get involved. Those wanting to donate directly to the former site of Perseverance Hall can click here.
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