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Metairie is an unincorporated, census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 17th Street Canal forms the border between Metairie and New Orleans to the east. The population was 146,136 at the 2000 census. Metairie is the largest unincorporated community in the Greater ... more »
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Airports Metairie is an unincorporated, census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 17th Street Canal forms the border between Metairie and New Orleans to the east. The population was 146,136 at the 2000 census. Metairie is the largest unincorporated community in the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area.
Metairie ranks as the fifth-largest CDP in the nation, behind Honolulu, Hawaii; Paradise, Nevada; Arlington County, Virginia; and Sunrise Manor, Nevada. The zip codes that serve the community are 70001-70006 and 70062.
The name comes from a French language term for a tenant farm which paid the landlord with a share of the produce (sharecropping), as this was the main activity of the area in the early 19th century.
Metairie was first settled by the French in the late 18th century along an area known as Metairie Ridge, a winding bit of naturally higher land formed by a natural bayou levee. This became "Metairie Road". An electric streetcar was installed running along Metairie Road in the late 1910s, opening the area to greater development. Upscale housing tracts were constructed off the Road in the 1920s; this area is now known as "Old Metairie." It is today the wealthiest area of Metairie. Most of the rest of Metairie was not developed until after World War II. Much of this growth was a result of white flight, as white New Orleans residents left New Orleans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and after integration of New Orleans schools. One district of Metarie elected David Duke to the Louisiana State House in 1989.
The wide straight avenue "Veterans Boulevard" was laid out along side a drainage canal, and became a commercial center of the region. The Central Business District of Metairie is located on Causeway Blvd. north of Veterans. Lakeside Shopping Center is the largest mall in Metairie, and the highest grossing mall in the New Orleans metropolitan area. In the 1970s and early 1980s an area of bars and nightclubs opened in a section of Metairie that is known as "Fat City" or "Metairie's Bourbon Street." Metairie has a thriving Mardi Gras season, with numerous parades throughout the season. Metairie's Mardi Gras is known as the cleaner, more family-friendly version of the New Orleans Mardi Gras.
On August 29, 2005, Metairie was hit hard by the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, including widespread wind damage and flooding. There were 29 reported deaths related to Katrina in Metairie. According to satellite images and flood maps, upwards of 75% of Metairie flooded. Initial insured damages in Metairie are between 3 and 5 billion US dollars. The death toll and damage were less in Metairie than in bordering Orleans Parish, largely because the Metairie side of the 17th Street Canal did not breach.
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