Welcome to the Hammond Historic District Survey Project! This project began as an Urban Studies Independent Study course in the fall semester of 2002. I am an Urban History doctoral student at the University of New Orleans, in the College of Urban and Public Affairs (CUPA). Primarily because of fascination/respect for old buildings and places, I am also doing a concentration in historic preservation.

This project will result in a web site containing photos, sketches, documents, events, and other information, arranged by city block and by time. Ultimately, a viewer could look at the 100 block of East Thomas Street in 1950, click on arrows to move north, south, east, or west from there, or click on a button to see the same block in 1960, 1940, or now. Clicking on a building on the page will show what is information is available for that building in that time period-the business located there, owner’s name, photo, newsworthy event, perhaps a copy of an advertisement, and so on. To start with, the buildings will be 2-dimensional, a simple footprint. Later on, with time I hope, they will become 3-dimensional, so that the viewer can be “looking” up the street and get a real sense of place. I have found some software that will allow me to do that, but it has a very steep learning curve.

Although I am studying in New Orleans, I have chosen to concentrate on Hammond for several reasons:

• I grew up here and witnessed the decline of Hammond’s downtown that has plagued so many towns and cities across the country; I have also watched the resurgence of downtown Hammond as a place to live, work, dine, shop, and mingle
• Smaller cities such as Hammond have limited (or no) resources to fund studies, histories, surveys, and the like; free doctoral student labor is welcome
• Hammond residents, young and old alike, need a source for information on their city-where it has been, what it looked like; city leaders need this as well to allow them to make informed planning decisions
• The information is available, although scattered from attics, photo albums, and newspaper archives to public records in Amite; I think people will be happy to share their memories and pictures; this project will gather everything together and have it in a single, accessible location that can be updated as new items are uncovered

I also need your help. Old photos, articles, sketches of things downtown; old phone books, city directories, church directories, diaries and journals, or anything that provides information on where something was and when. I will scan pictures and articles (I have a portable scanner for my laptop computer, or a flatbed scanner at home for those of you who will allow me to borrow the items for a few hours), and make notes from the books and directories. Of course, appropriate credit will be given for all these items.

Please contact me if you know of anything that should be included in this project or have suggestions. Use your BACK button or click here to return to the main page.

Thanks

Janet Davis

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